Systems and methods for dynamically enforcing digital rights management via embedded browser

ABSTRACT

Embodiments described include systems and methods for incorporating tags in content of network applications. An embedded browser, which is executable on one or more processors of a client device, may detect content from a network application accessed via the embedded browser. A DRM engine of the embedded browser identifies a DRM scheme for the network application from the plurality of DRM schemes and according to the network application. The DRM engine generates a DRM tag for the content according to the DRM scheme identified for the network application. The DRM tag includes a classification of the content. The DRM engine incorporates the DRM tag into the content for managing usage of the content according to the classification.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present application generally relates to management of applications,including but not limited to systems and methods for using an embeddedbrowser to perform digital rights management.

BACKGROUND

As the workforce of an enterprise becomes more mobile and work undervarious conditions, an individual can use one or more client devices,including personal devices, to access network resources such as webapplications. Due to differences between the client devices and themanner in which network resources can be accessed, there are significantchallenges to the enterprise in managing access to network resources andmonitoring for potential misuse of resources.

BRIEF SUMMARY

This disclosure is directed towards systems and methods forincorporating tags in content of network application. A digital rightsmanagement (DRM) engine may be configured to establish copyright orother digital rights for content delivered via network applications(such as Software as a Service (SaaS) applications) using an embeddedbrowser. The embedded browser may be implemented in a client application(also referred to as a workspace application or receiver application).The DRM engine may use tags (also referred to as DRM tags) to manage thedistribution of copyrighted data or content (or other content havingdigital rights associated therewith) within a network application andcontrol what users can do with the content once the content has beendistributed. DRM policies for a network application may identify suchcontent and specify any user restrictions and/or privileges associatedwith the content, and usage rights and/or restrictions, and may alsodefine the relationship between users and the content within the networkapplication context.

In one aspect, this disclosure is directed to a method for incorporatingtags in content of network applications. The method may includedetecting, by an embedded browser executable on a client device, contentprovided by a network application, the network application accessed viathe embedded browser. The method may include identifying, by theembedded browser from a plurality of digital rights management (DRM)schemes and according to the network application, a DRM scheme for thenetwork application. The method may include generating, by the embeddedbrowser, a DRM tag for the content according to the DRM schemeidentified for the network application. The DRM tag may include aclassification of the content. The method may include incorporating, bythe embedded browser, the DRM tag into the content for managing usage ofthe content according to the classification.

In some embodiments, the method further includes providing, by a clientapplication executing on the client device and incorporating theembedded browser, access to a plurality of network applications via theembedded browser. The plurality of network applications may include thenetwork application providing the content. In some embodiments, themethod further includes determining the classification of the contentaccording to at least one of: information in the content, the networkapplication, or the DRM scheme.

In some embodiments, the method further includes determining theclassification of the content to comprise at least one of strictlyconfidential, confidential, strongly sensitive, sensitive, internal, orpublic. In some embodiments, the method further includes generating theDRM tag to include at least one of an access control specification, anencryption requirement for the content, a watermark requirement for thecontent. In some embodiments, the access control specification includesat least one of limiting access of the content to one or more specifiedusers, or restricting at least one of: sharing, uploading, downloading,printing, emailing, saving, or screen-capturing the content.

In some embodiments, the method further includes monitoring usage of thecontent according to the DRM tag of the content. In some embodiments,the method further includes detecting an action being attempted on thecontent, and determining whether to allow or block the action on thecontent according to the DRM tag of the content. In some embodiments,the method further includes determining whether to at least one ofencrypt or watermark the content according to the DRM tag of thecontent. In some embodiments, the method further includes using thecontent incorporated with the DRM tag, in addition to other contentincorporated with corresponding DRM tags, to train a neural network toat least one of: identify misuse of content, classify content, controlaccess to content, or restrict actions on content.

In another aspect, this disclosure is directed to a system forincorporating tags in content of network applications. The system mayinclude a storage device for storing a plurality of digital rightsmanagement (DRM) schemes. The system may include an embedded browserexecutable on one or more processors of a client device. The embeddedbrowser may be configured to provide access to a network application,and to detect content provided by the network application. The systemmay include a DRM engine of the embedded browser. The DRM engine may beconfigured to identify, from the plurality of DRM schemes and accordingto the network application, a DRM scheme for the network application.The DRM engine may be configured to generate a DRM tag for the contentaccording to the DRM scheme identified for the network application, theDRM tag including a classification of the content. The DRM engine may beconfigured to incorporate the DRM tag into the content for managingusage of the content according to the classification.

In some embodiments, the system further includes a client applicationexecuting on the one or more processors of the client device andincorporating the embedded browser. The client application configured toprovide access to a plurality of network applications via the embeddedbrowser. The plurality of network applications may include the networkapplication providing the content. In some embodiments, the DRM engineis further configured to determine the classification of the contentaccording to at least one of information in the content, the networkapplication, or the DRM scheme. In some embodiments, the DRM engine isfurther configured to determine the classification of the content tocomprise at least one of strictly confidential, confidential, stronglysensitive, sensitive, internal, or public.

In some embodiments, the DRM engine is further configured to generatethe DRM tag to include at least one of: an access control specification,an encryption requirement for the content, a watermark requirement forthe content. The DRM engine may further be configured to store the DRMtag to one or more servers, in association with the network application.The DRM engine may further be configured to incorporate the stored DRMtag into the content or other content provided by at least one of apresent instance of the network application or another instance of thenetwork application.

In some embodiments, the access control specification comprises at leastone of limiting access of the content to one or more specified users, orrestricting at least one of: sharing, uploading, downloading, printing,emailing, saving, or screen-capturing the content. In some embodiments,the system further includes a DRM agent configured to monitor usage ofthe content according to the DRM tag of the content.

In some embodiments, the system further includes a DRM agent configuredto detect an action being attempted on the content, and to determinewhether to allow or block the action on the content according to apolicy and the DRM tag of the content. In some embodiments, the systemfurther includes a DRM agent configured to determine whether to at leastone of encrypt or watermark the content according to the DRM tag of thecontent. In some embodiments, the DRM engine is configured to providethe content incorporated with the DRM tag, in addition to other contentincorporated with corresponding DRM tags, to train a neural network toat least one of identify misuse of content, classify content, controlaccess to content, or restrict actions on content.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The foregoing and other objects, aspects, features, and advantages ofthe present solution will become more apparent and better understood byreferring to the following description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of embodiments of a computing device;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an illustrative embodiment of cloudservices for use in accessing resources;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example embodiment of an enterprisemobility management system;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a system 400 of an embedded browser;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an example embodiment of a system for usinga secure browser;

FIG. 6 is an example representation of an implementation for browserredirection using a secure browser plug-in;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of example embodiment of a system of using asecure browser;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an example embodiment of a system for usinglocal embedded browser(s) and hosted secured browser(s);

FIG. 9 is an example process flow for using local embedded browser(s)and hosted secured browser(s);

FIG. 10 is an example embodiment of a system for managing user access towebpages;

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of an example embodiment of a system forincorporating tags in content of network applications; and

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram of an example embodiment of a method forincorporating tags in content of network applications.

The features and advantages of the present solution will become moreapparent from the detailed description set forth below when taken inconjunction with the drawings, in which like reference charactersidentify corresponding elements throughout. In the drawings, likereference numbers generally indicate identical, functionally similar,and/or structurally similar elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

For purposes of reading the description of the various embodimentsbelow, the following descriptions of the sections of the specificationand their respective contents may be helpful:

Section A describes a computing environment which may be useful forpracticing embodiments described herein.

Section B describes systems and methods for an embedded browser.

Section C describes systems and methods for incorporating tags incontent of network applications.

A. Computing Environment

Prior to discussing the specifics of embodiments of the systems andmethods detailed herein in Section B, it may be helpful to discuss thecomputing environments in which such embodiments may be deployed.

As shown in FIG. 1, computer 101 may include one or more processors 103,volatile memory 122 (e.g., random access memory (RAM)), non-volatilememory 128 (e.g., one or more hard disk drives (HDDs) or other magneticor optical storage media, one or more solid state drives (SSDs) such asa flash drive or other solid state storage media, one or more hybridmagnetic and solid state drives, and/or one or more virtual storagevolumes, such as a cloud storage, or a combination of such physicalstorage volumes and virtual storage volumes or arrays thereof), userinterface (UI) 123, one or more communications interfaces 118, andcommunication bus 150. User interface 123 may include graphical userinterface (GUI) 124 (e.g., a touchscreen, a display, etc.) and one ormore input/output (I/O) devices 126 (e.g., a mouse, a keyboard, amicrophone, one or more speakers, one or more cameras, one or morebiometric scanners, one or more environmental sensors, one or moreaccelerometers, etc.). Non-volatile memory 128 stores operating system115, one or more applications 116, and data 117 such that, for example,computer instructions of operating system 115 and/or applications 116are executed by processor(s) 103 out of volatile memory 122. In someembodiments, volatile memory 122 may include one or more types of RAMand/or a cache memory that may offer a faster response time than a mainmemory. Data may be entered using an input device of GUI 124 or receivedfrom I/O device(s) 126. Various elements of computer 101 may communicatevia one or more communication buses, shown as communication bus 150.

Computer 101 as shown in FIG. 1 is shown merely as an example, asclients, servers, intermediary and other networking devices and may beimplemented by any computing or processing environment and with any typeof machine or set of machines that may have suitable hardware and/orsoftware capable of operating as described herein. Processor(s) 103 maybe implemented by one or more programmable processors to execute one ormore executable instructions, such as a computer program, to perform thefunctions of the system. As used herein, the term “processor” describescircuitry that performs a function, an operation, or a sequence ofoperations. The function, operation, or sequence of operations may behard coded into the circuitry or soft coded by way of instructions heldin a memory device and executed by the circuitry. A “processor” mayperform the function, operation, or sequence of operations using digitalvalues and/or using analog signals. In some embodiments, the “processor”can be embodied in one or more application specific integrated circuits(ASICs), microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs), graphicsprocessing units (GPUs), microcontrollers, field programmable gatearrays (FPGAs), programmable logic arrays (PLAs), multi-core processors,or general-purpose computers with associated memory. The “processor” maybe analog, digital or mixed-signal. In some embodiments, the “processor”may be one or more physical processors or one or more “virtual” (e.g.,remotely located or “cloud”) processors. A processor including multipleprocessor cores and/or multiple processors multiple processors mayprovide functionality for parallel, simultaneous execution ofinstructions or for parallel, simultaneous execution of one instructionon more than one piece of data.

Communications interfaces 118 may include one or more interfaces toenable computer 101 to access a computer network such as a Local AreaNetwork (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), a Personal Area Network (PAN),or the Internet through a variety of wired and/or wireless or cellularconnections.

In described embodiments, the computing device 101 may execute anapplication on behalf of a user of a client computing device. Forexample, the computing device 101 may execute a virtual machine, whichprovides an execution session within which applications execute onbehalf of a user or a client computing device, such as a hosted desktopsession. The computing device 101 may also execute a terminal servicessession to provide a hosted desktop environment. The computing device101 may provide access to a computing environment including one or moreof: one or more applications, one or more desktop applications, and oneor more desktop sessions in which one or more applications may execute.

Additional details of the implementation and operation of networkenvironment, computer 101 and client and server computers may be asdescribed in U.S. Pat. No. 9,538,345, issued Jan. 3, 2017 to CitrixSystems, Inc. of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., the teachings of which arehereby incorporated herein by reference.

B. Systems and Methods for an Embedded Browser

The present disclosure is directed towards systems and methods of anembedded browser. A client application executing on a client device canallow a user to access applications (apps) that are served from and/orhosted on one or more servers, such as web applications andsoftware-as-a-service (SaaS) applications (hereafter sometimes generallyreferred to as network applications). A browser that is embedded orintegrated with the client application can render to the user a networkapplication that is accessed or requested via the client application,and can enable interactivity between the user and the networkapplication. The browser is sometimes referred to as an embeddedbrowser, and the client application with embedded browser (CEB) issometimes referred to as a workspace application. The client applicationcan establish a secure connection to the one or more servers to providean application session for the user to access the network applicationusing the client device and the embedded browser. The embedded browsercan be integrated with the client application to ensure that trafficrelated to the network application is routed through and/or processed inthe client application, which can provide the client application withreal-time visibility to the traffic (e.g., when decrypted through theclient application), and user interactions and behavior. The embeddedbrowser can provide a seamless experience to a user as the networkapplication is requested via the user interface (shared by the clientapplication and the embedded browser) and rendered through the embeddedbrowser within the same user interface.

The client application can terminate one end of a secured connectionestablished with a server of a network application, such as a securesockets layer (SSL) virtual private network (VPN) connection. The clientapplication can receive encrypted traffic from the network application,and can decrypt the traffic before further processing (e.g., renderingby the embedded browser). The client application can monitor thereceived traffic (e.g., in encrypted packet form), and also have fullvisibility into the decrypted data stream and/or the SSL stack. Thisvisibility can allow the client application to perform or facilitatepolicy-based management (e.g., including data loss prevention (DLP)capabilities), application control (e.g., to improve performance,service level), and collection and production of analytics. Forinstance, the local embedded can provide an information technology (IT)administrator with a controlled system for deploying web and SaaSapplications through the embedded browser, and allow the ITadministrator to set policies or configurations via the embedded browserfor performing any of the forgoing activities.

Many web and SaaS delivered applications connect from web servers togeneric browsers (e.g., Internet Explorer, Firefox, and so on) of users.Once authenticated, the entire session of such a network application isencrypted. However, in this scenario, an administrator may not havevisibility, analytics, or control of the content entering the networkapplication from the user's digital workspace, or the content leavingthe network application and entering the user's digital workspace.Moreover, content of a network application viewed in a generic browsercan be copied or downloaded (e.g., by a user or program) to potentiallyany arbitrary application or device, resulting in a possible breach indata security.

This present systems and methods can ensure that traffic associated witha network application is channeled through a CEB. By way ofillustration, when a user accesses a SaaS web service with securityassertion markup language (SAML) enabled for instance, the correspondingaccess request can be forwarded to a designated gateway service thatdetermines, checks or verifies if the CEB was used to make the accessrequest. Responsive to determining that a CEB was used to make theaccess request, the gateway service can perform or provideauthentication and single-sign-on (SSO), and can allow the CEB toconnect directly to the SaaS web service. Encryption (e.g., standardencryption) can be used for the application session between the CEB andthe SaaS web service. When the content from the web service isunencrypted in the CEB to the viewed via the embedded browser, and/orwhen input is entered via the CEB, the CEB can provide added services onselective application-related information for control and analytics forinstance. For example, an analytics agent or application programminginterface (API) can be embedded in the CEB to provide or perform theadded services.

The CEB (sometimes referred to as workspace application or receiver) caninteroperate with one or more gateway services, intermediaries and/ornetwork servers (sometimes collectively referred to as cloud services orCitrix Cloud) to provide access to a network application. Features andelements of an environment related to the operation of an embodiment ofcloud services are described below.

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of cloud services for use in accessingresources including network applications. The cloud services can includean enterprise mobility technical architecture 200, which can include anaccess gateway 260 in one illustrative embodiment. The architecture canbe used in a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) environment for instance. Thearchitecture can enable a user of a client device 202 (e.g., a mobile orother device) to both access enterprise or personal resources from aclient device 202, and use the client device 202 for personal use. Theuser may access such enterprise resources 204 or enterprise services 208via a client application executing on the client device 202. The usermay access such enterprise resources 204 or enterprise services 208using a client device 202 that is purchased by the user or a clientdevice 202 that is provided by the enterprise to user. The user mayutilize the client device 202 for business use only or for business andpersonal use. The client device may run an iOS operating system, andAndroid operating system, or the like. The enterprise may choose toimplement policies to manage the client device 202. The policies may beimplanted through a firewall or gateway in such a way that the clientdevice may be identified, secured or security verified, and providedselective or full access to the enterprise resources. The policies maybe client device management policies, mobile application managementpolicies, mobile data management policies, or some combination of clientdevice, application, and data management policies. A client device 202that is managed through the application of client device managementpolicies may be referred to as an enrolled device. The client devicemanagement policies can be applied via the client application forinstance.

In some embodiments, the operating system of the client device may beseparated into a managed partition 210 and an unmanaged partition 212.The managed partition 210 may have policies applied to it to secure theapplications running on and data stored in the managed partition. Theapplications running on the managed partition may be secureapplications. In other embodiments, all applications may execute inaccordance with a set of one or more policy files received separate fromthe application, and which define one or more security parameters,features, resource restrictions, and/or other access controls that areenforced by the client device management system when that application isexecuting on the device. By operating in accordance with theirrespective policy file(s), each application may be allowed or restrictedfrom communications with one or more other applications and/orresources, thereby creating a virtual partition. Thus, as used herein, apartition may refer to a physically partitioned portion of memory(physical partition), a logically partitioned portion of memory (logicalpartition), and/or a virtual partition created as a result ofenforcement of one or more policies and/or policy files across multipleapps as described herein (virtual partition). Stated differently, byenforcing policies on managed apps, those apps may be restricted to onlybe able to communicate with other managed apps and trusted enterpriseresources, thereby creating a virtual partition that is not accessibleby unmanaged apps and devices.

The secure applications may be email applications, web browsingapplications, software-as-a-service (SaaS) access applications, WindowsApplication access applications, and the like. The client applicationcan include a secure application launcher 218. The secure applicationsmay be secure native applications 214, secure remote applications 222executed by the secure application launcher 218, virtualizationapplications 226 executed by the secure application launcher 218, andthe like. The secure native applications 214 may be wrapped by a secureapplication wrapper 220. The secure application wrapper 220 may includeintegrated policies that are executed on the client device 202 when thesecure native application is executed on the device. The secureapplication wrapper 220 may include meta-data that points the securenative application 214 running on the client device 202 to the resourceshosted at the enterprise that the secure native application 214 mayrequire to complete the task requested upon execution of the securenative application 214. The secure remote applications 222 executed by asecure application launcher 218 may be executed within the secureapplication launcher application 218. The virtualization applications226 executed by a secure application launcher 218 may utilize resourceson the client device 202, at the enterprise resources 204, and the like.The resources used on the client device 202 by the virtualizationapplications 226 executed by a secure application launcher 218 mayinclude user interaction resources, processing resources, and the like.The user interaction resources may be used to collect and transmitkeyboard input, mouse input, camera input, tactile input, audio input,visual input, gesture input, and the like. The processing resources maybe used to present a user interface, process data received from theenterprise resources 204, and the like. The resources used at theenterprise resources 204 by the virtualization applications 226 executedby a secure application launcher 218 may include user interfacegeneration resources, processing resources, and the like. The userinterface generation resources may be used to assemble a user interface,modify a user interface, refresh a user interface, and the like. Theprocessing resources may be used to create information, readinformation, update information, delete information, and the like. Forexample, the virtualization application may record user interactionsassociated with a graphical user interface (GUI) and communicate them toa server application where the server application may use the userinteraction data as an input to the application operating on the server.In this arrangement, an enterprise may elect to maintain the applicationon the server side as well as data, files, etc., associated with theapplication. While an enterprise may elect to “mobilize” someapplications in accordance with the principles herein by securing themfor deployment on the client device (e.g., via the client application),this arrangement may also be elected for certain applications. Forexample, while some applications may be secured for use on the clientdevice, others might not be prepared or appropriate for deployment onthe client device so the enterprise may elect to provide the mobile useraccess to the unprepared applications through virtualization techniques.As another example, the enterprise may have large complex applicationswith large and complex data sets (e.g., material resource planningapplications) where it would be very difficult, or otherwiseundesirable, to customize the application for the client device so theenterprise may elect to provide access to the application throughvirtualization techniques. As yet another example, the enterprise mayhave an application that maintains highly secured data (e.g., humanresources data, customer data, engineering data) that may be deemed bythe enterprise as too sensitive for even the secured mobile environmentso the enterprise may elect to use virtualization techniques to permitmobile access to such applications and data. An enterprise may elect toprovide both fully secured and fully functional applications on theclient device. The enterprise can use a client application, which caninclude a virtualization application, to allow access to applicationsthat are deemed more properly operated on the server side. In anembodiment, the virtualization application may store some data, files,etc., on the mobile phone in one of the secure storage locations. Anenterprise, for example, may elect to allow certain information to bestored on the phone while not permitting other information.

In connection with the virtualization application, as described herein,the client device may have a virtualization application that is designedto present GUIs and then record user interactions with the GUI. Thevirtualization application may communicate the user interactions to theserver side to be used by the server side application as userinteractions with the application. In response, the application on theserver side may transmit back to the client device a new GUI. Forexample, the new GUI may be a static page, a dynamic page, an animation,or the like, thereby providing access to remotely located resources.

The secure applications may access data stored in a secure datacontainer 228 in the managed partition 210 of the client device. Thedata secured in the secure data container may be accessed by the securewrapped applications 214, applications executed by a secure applicationlauncher 222, virtualization applications 226 executed by a secureapplication launcher 218, and the like. The data stored in the securedata container 228 may include files, databases, and the like. The datastored in the secure data container 228 may include data restricted to aspecific secure application 230, shared among secure applications 232,and the like. Data restricted to a secure application may include securegeneral data 234 and highly secure data 238. Secure general data may usea strong form of encryption such as Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)128-bit encryption or the like, while highly secure data 238 may use avery strong form of encryption such as AES 256-bit encryption. Datastored in the secure data container 228 may be deleted from the deviceupon receipt of a command from the device manager 224. The secureapplications may have a dual-mode option 240. The dual mode option 240may present the user with an option to operate the secured applicationin an unsecured or unmanaged mode. In an unsecured or unmanaged mode,the secure applications may access data stored in an unsecured datacontainer 242 on the unmanaged partition 212 of the client device 202.The data stored in an unsecured data container may be personal data 244.The data stored in an unsecured data container 242 may also be accessedby unsecured applications 248 that are running on the unmanagedpartition 212 of the client device 202. The data stored in an unsecureddata container 242 may remain on the client device 202 when the datastored in the secure data container 228 is deleted from the clientdevice 202. An enterprise may want to delete from the client deviceselected or all data, files, and/or applications owned, licensed orcontrolled by the enterprise (enterprise data) while leaving orotherwise preserving personal data, files, and/or applications owned,licensed or controlled by the user (personal data). This operation maybe referred to as a selective wipe. With the enterprise and personaldata arranged in accordance to the aspects described herein, anenterprise may perform a selective wipe.

The client device 202 may connect to enterprise resources 204 andenterprise services 208 at an enterprise, to the public Internet 248,and the like. The client device may connect to enterprise resources 204and enterprise services 208 through virtual private network connections.The virtual private network connections, also referred to as microVPN orapplication-specific VPN, may be specific to particular applications(e.g., as illustrated by microVPNs 250), particular devices, particularsecured areas on the client device (e.g., as illustrated by O/S VPN252), and the like. For example, each of the wrapped applications in thesecured area of the phone may access enterprise resources through anapplication specific VPN such that access to the VPN would be grantedbased on attributes associated with the application, possibly inconjunction with user or device attribute information. The virtualprivate network connections may carry Microsoft Exchange traffic,Microsoft Active Directory traffic, HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP)traffic, HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) traffic, applicationmanagement traffic, and the like. The virtual private networkconnections may support and enable single-sign-on authenticationprocesses 254. The single-sign-on processes may allow a user to providea single set of authentication credentials, which are then verified byan authentication service 258. The authentication service 258 may thengrant to the user access to multiple enterprise resources 204, withoutrequiring the user to provide authentication credentials to eachindividual enterprise resource 204.

The virtual private network connections may be established and managedby an access gateway 260. The access gateway 260 may include performanceenhancement features that manage, accelerate, and improve the deliveryof enterprise resources 204 to the client device 202. The access gatewaymay also re-route traffic from the client device 202 to the publicInternet 248, enabling the client device 202 to access publiclyavailable and unsecured applications that run on the public Internet248. The client device may connect to the access gateway via a transportnetwork 262. The transport network 262 may use one or more transportprotocols and may be a wired network, wireless network, cloud network,local area network, metropolitan area network, wide area network, publicnetwork, private network, and the like.

The enterprise resources 204 may include email servers, file sharingservers, SaaS/Web applications, Web application servers, Windowsapplication servers, and the like. Email servers may include Exchangeservers, Lotus Notes servers, and the like. File sharing servers mayinclude ShareFile servers, and the like. SaaS applications may includeSalesforce, and the like. Windows application servers may include anyapplication server that is built to provide applications that areintended to run on a local Windows operating system, and the like. Theenterprise resources 204 may be premise-based resources, cloud basedresources, and the like. The enterprise resources 204 may be accessed bythe client device 202 directly or through the access gateway 260. Theenterprise resources 204 may be accessed by the client device 202 via atransport network 262. The transport network 262 may be a wired network,wireless network, cloud network, local area network, metropolitan areanetwork, wide area network, public network, private network, and thelike.

Cloud services can include an access gateway 260 and/or enterpriseservices 208. The enterprise services 208 may include authenticationservices 258, threat detection services 264, device manager services224, file sharing services 268, policy manager services 270, socialintegration services 272, application controller services 274, and thelike. Authentication services 258 may include user authenticationservices, device authentication services, application authenticationservices, data authentication services and the like. Authenticationservices 258 may use certificates. The certificates may be stored on theclient device 202, by the enterprise resources 204, and the like. Thecertificates stored on the client device 202 may be stored in anencrypted location on the client device, the certificate may betemporarily stored on the client device 202 for use at the time ofauthentication, and the like. Threat detection services 264 may includeintrusion detection services, unauthorized access attempt detectionservices, and the like. Unauthorized access attempt detection servicesmay include unauthorized attempts to access devices, applications, data,and the like. Device management services 224 may include configuration,provisioning, security, support, monitoring, reporting, anddecommissioning services. File sharing services 268 may include filemanagement services, file storage services, file collaboration services,and the like. Policy manager services 270 may include device policymanager services, application policy manager services, data policymanager services, and the like. Social integration services 272 mayinclude contact integration services, collaboration services,integration with social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, andLinkedIn, and the like. Application controller services 274 may includemanagement services, provisioning services, deployment services,assignment services, revocation services, wrapping services, and thelike.

The enterprise mobility technical architecture 200 may include anapplication store 278. The application store 278 may include unwrappedapplications 280, pre-wrapped applications 282, and the like.Applications may be populated in the application store 278 from theapplication controller 274. The application store 278 may be accessed bythe client device 202 through the access gateway 260, through the publicInternet 248, or the like. The application store may be provided with anintuitive and easy to use User Interface.

A software development kit 284 may provide a user the capability tosecure applications selected by the user by providing a secure wrapperaround the application. An application that has been wrapped using thesoftware development kit 284 may then be made available to the clientdevice 202 by populating it in the application store 278 using theapplication controller 274.

The enterprise mobility technical architecture 200 may include amanagement and analytics capability. The management and analyticscapability may provide information related to how resources are used,how often resources are used, and the like. Resources may includedevices, applications, data, and the like. How resources are used mayinclude which devices download which applications, which applicationsaccess which data, and the like. How often resources are used mayinclude how often an application has been downloaded, how many times aspecific set of data has been accessed by an application, and the like.

FIG. 3 depicts is an illustrative embodiment of an enterprise mobilitymanagement system 300. Some of the components of the mobility managementsystem 200 described above with reference to FIG. 2 have been omittedfor the sake of simplicity. The architecture of the system 300 depictedin FIG. 3 is similar in many respects to the architecture of the system200 described above with reference to FIG. 2 and may include additionalfeatures not mentioned above.

In this case, the left hand side represents an enrolled client device302 with a client agent 304, which interacts with gateway server 306 toaccess various enterprise resources 308 and services 309 such as Web orSasS applications, Exchange, Sharepoint, public-key infrastructure (PKI)Resources, Kerberos Resources, Certificate Issuance service, as shown onthe right hand side above. The gateway server 306 can includeembodiments of features and functionalities of the cloud services, suchas access gateway 260 and application controller functionality. Althoughnot specifically shown, the client agent 304 may be part of, and/orinteract with the client application which can operate as an enterpriseapplication store (storefront) for the selection and/or downloading ofnetwork applications.

The client agent 304 can act as a UI (user interface) intermediary forWindows apps/desktops hosted in an Enterprise data center, which areaccessed using the High-Definition User Experience (HDX) or IndependentComputing Architecture (ICA) display remoting protocol. The client agent304 can also support the installation and management of nativeapplications on the client device 302, such as native iOS or Androidapplications. For example, the managed applications 310 (mail, browser,wrapped application) shown in the figure above are native applicationsthat execute locally on the device. Client agent 304 and applicationmanagement framework of this architecture act to provide policy drivenmanagement capabilities and features such as connectivity and SSO(single sign on) to enterprise resources/services 308. The client agent304 handles primary user authentication to the enterprise, for instanceto access gateway (AG) with SSO to other gateway server components. Theclient agent 304 obtains policies from gateway server 306 to control thebehavior of the managed applications 310 on the client device 302.

The Secure interprocess communication (IPC) links 312 between the nativeapplications 310 and client agent 304 represent a management channel,which allows client agent to supply policies to be enforced by theapplication management framework 314 “wrapping” each application. TheIPC channel 312 also allows client agent 304 to supply credential andauthentication information that enables connectivity and SSO toenterprise resources 308. Finally the IPC channel 312 allows theapplication management framework 314 to invoke user interface functionsimplemented by client agent 304, such as online and offlineauthentication.

Communications between the client agent 304 and gateway server 306 areessentially an extension of the management channel from the applicationmanagement framework 314 wrapping each native managed application 310.The application management framework 314 requests policy informationfrom client agent 304, which in turn requests it from gateway server306. The application management framework 314 requests authentication,and client agent 304 logs into the gateway services part of gatewayserver 306 (also known as NetScaler access gateway). Client agent 304may also call supporting services on gateway server 306, which mayproduce input material to derive encryption keys for the local datavaults 316, or provide client certificates which may enable directauthentication to PKI protected resources, as more fully explainedbelow.

In more detail, the application management framework 314 “wraps” eachmanaged application 310. This may be incorporated via an explicit buildstep, or via a post-build processing step. The application managementframework 314 may “pair” with client agent 304 on first launch of anapplication 310 to initialize the Secure IPC channel and obtain thepolicy for that application. The application management framework 314may enforce relevant portions of the policy that apply locally, such asthe client agent login dependencies and some of the containment policiesthat restrict how local OS services may be used, or how they mayinteract with the application 310.

The application management framework 314 may use services provided byclient agent 304 over the Secure IPC channel 312 to facilitateauthentication and internal network access. Key management for theprivate and shared data vaults 316 (containers) may be also managed byappropriate interactions between the managed applications 310 and clientagent 304. Vaults 316 may be available only after online authentication,or may be made available after offline authentication if allowed bypolicy. First use of vaults 316 may require online authentication, andoffline access may be limited to at most the policy refresh periodbefore online authentication is again required.

Network access to internal resources may occur directly from individualmanaged applications 310 through access gateway 306. The applicationmanagement framework 314 is responsible for orchestrating the networkaccess on behalf of each application 310. Client agent 304 mayfacilitate these network connections by providing suitable time limitedsecondary credentials obtained following online authentication. Multiplemodes of network connection may be used, such as reverse web proxyconnections and end-to-end VPN-style tunnels 318.

The Mail and Browser managed applications 310 can have special statusand may make use of facilities that might not be generally available toarbitrary wrapped applications. For example, the Mail application mayuse a special background network access mechanism that allows it toaccess Exchange over an extended period of time without requiring a fullAG logon. The Browser application may use multiple private data vaultsto segregate different kinds of data.

This architecture can support the incorporation of various othersecurity features. For example, gateway server 306 (including itsgateway services) in some cases might not need to validate activedirectory (AD) passwords. It can be left to the discretion of anenterprise whether an AD password is used as an authentication factorfor some users in some situations. Different authentication methods maybe used if a user is online or offline (i.e., connected or not connectedto a network).

Step up authentication is a feature wherein gateway server 306 mayidentify managed native applications 310 that are allowed to have accessto more sensitive data using strong authentication, and ensure thataccess to these applications is only permitted after performingappropriate authentication, even if this means a re-authentication isrequested from the user after a prior weaker level of login.

Another security feature of this solution is the encryption of the datavaults 316 (containers) on the client device 302. The vaults 316 may beencrypted so that all on-device data including clipboard/cache data,files, databases, and configurations are protected. For on-line vaults,the keys may be stored on the server (gateway server 306), and foroff-line vaults, a local copy of the keys may be protected by a userpassword or biometric validation. When data is stored locally on thedevice 302 in the secure container 316, it is preferred that a minimumof AES 256 encryption algorithm be utilized.

Other secure container features may also be implemented. For example, alogging feature may be included, wherein all security events happeninginside an application 310 are logged and reported to the backend. Datawiping may be supported, such as if the application 310 detectstampering, associated encryption keys may be written over with randomdata, leaving no hint on the file system that user data was destroyed.Screenshot protection is another feature, where an application mayprevent any data from being stored in screenshots. For example, the keywindow's hidden property may be set to YES. This may cause whatevercontent is currently displayed on the screen to be hidden, resulting ina blank screenshot where any content would normally reside.

Local data transfer may be prevented, such as by preventing any datafrom being locally transferred outside the application container, e.g.,by copying it or sending it to an external application. A keyboard cachefeature may operate to disable the autocorrect functionality forsensitive text fields. SSL certificate validation may be operable so theapplication specifically validates the server SSL certificate instead ofit being stored in the keychain. An encryption key generation featuremay be used such that the key used to encrypt data on the device isgenerated using a passphrase or biometric data supplied by the user (ifoffline access is required). It may be XORed with another key randomlygenerated and stored on the server side if offline access is notrequired. Key Derivation functions may operate such that keys generatedfrom the user password use KDFs (key derivation functions, notablyPassword-Based Key Derivation Function 2 (PBKDF2)) rather than creatinga cryptographic hash of it. The latter makes a key susceptible to bruteforce or dictionary attacks.

Further, one or more initialization vectors may be used in encryptionmethods. An initialization vector might cause multiple copies of thesame encrypted data to yield different cipher text output, preventingboth replay and cryptanalytic attacks. This may also prevent an attackerfrom decrypting any data even with a stolen encryption key. Further,authentication then decryption may be used, wherein application data isdecrypted only after the user has authenticated within the application.Another feature may relate to sensitive data in memory, which may bekept in memory (and not in disk) only when it's needed. For example,login credentials may be wiped from memory after login, and encryptionkeys and other data inside objective-C instance variables are notstored, as they may be easily referenced. Instead, memory may bemanually allocated for these.

An inactivity timeout may be implemented via the CEB, wherein after apolicy-defined period of inactivity, a user session is terminated.

Data leakage from the application management framework 314 may beprevented in other ways. For example, when an application 310 is put inthe background, the memory may be cleared after a predetermined(configurable) time period. When backgrounded, a snapshot may be takenof the last displayed screen of the application to fasten theforegrounding process. The screenshot may contain confidential data andhence should be cleared.

Another security feature relates to the use of an OTP (one timepassword) 320 without the use of an AD (active directory) 322 passwordfor access to one or more applications. In some cases, some users do notknow (or are not permitted to know) their AD password, so these usersmay authenticate using an OTP 320 such as by using a hardware OTP systemlike SecurID (OTPs may be provided by different vendors also, such asEntrust or Gemalto). In some cases, after a user authenticates with auser ID, a text is sent to the user with an OTP 320. In some cases, thismay be implemented only for online use, with a prompt being a singlefield.

An offline password may be implemented for offline authentication forthose applications 310 for which offline use is permitted via enterprisepolicy. For example, an enterprise may want storefront to be accessed inthis manner. In this case, the client agent 304 may require the user toset a custom offline password and the AD password is not used. Gatewayserver 306 may provide policies to control and enforce passwordstandards with respect to the minimum length, character classcomposition, and age of passwords, such as described by the standardWindows Server password complexity requirements, although theserequirements may be modified.

Another feature relates to the enablement of a client side certificatefor certain applications 310 as secondary credentials (for the purposeof accessing PKI protected web resources via the application managementframework micro VPN feature). For example, an application may utilizesuch a certificate. In this case, certificate-based authentication usingActiveSync protocol may be supported, wherein a certificate from theclient agent 304 may be retrieved by gateway server 306 and used in akeychain. Each managed application may have one associated clientcertificate, identified by a label that is defined in gateway server306.

Gateway server 306 may interact with an Enterprise special purpose webservice to support the issuance of client certificates to allow relevantmanaged applications to authenticate to internal PKI protectedresources.

The client agent 304 and the application management framework 314 may beenhanced to support obtaining and using client certificates forauthentication to internal PKI protected network resources. More thanone certificate may be supported, such as to match various levels ofsecurity and/or separation requirements. The certificates may be used bythe Mail and Browser managed applications, and ultimately by arbitrarywrapped applications (provided those applications use web service stylecommunication patterns where it is reasonable for the applicationmanagement framework to mediate https requests).

Application management client certificate support on iOS may rely onimporting public-key cryptography standards (PKCS) 12 BLOB (Binary LargeObject) into the iOS keychain in each managed application for eachperiod of use. Application management framework client certificatesupport may use a HTTPS implementation with private in-memory keystorage. The client certificate might never be present in the iOSkeychain and might not be persisted except potentially in “online-only”data value that is strongly protected.

Mutual SSL or TLS may also be implemented to provide additional securityby requiring that a client device 302 is authenticated to theenterprise, and vice versa. Virtual smart cards for authentication togateway server 306 may also be implemented.

Both limited and full Kerberos support may be additional features. Thefull support feature relates to an ability to do full Kerberos login toActive Directory (AD) 322, using an AD password or trusted clientcertificate, and obtain Kerberos service tickets to respond to HTTPNegotiate authentication challenges. The limited support feature relatesto constrained delegation in Citrix Access Gateway Enterprise Edition(AGEE), where AGEE supports invoking Kerberos protocol transition so itcan obtain and use Kerberos service tickets (subject to constraineddelegation) in response to HTTP Negotiate authentication challenges.This mechanism works in reverse web proxy (aka corporate virtual privatenetwork (CVPN)) mode, and when http (but not https) connections areproxied in VPN and MicroVPN mode.

Another feature relates to application container locking and wiping,which may automatically occur upon jail-break or rooting detections, andoccur as a pushed command from administration console, and may includeremote wipe functionality even when an application 310 is not running.

A multi-site architecture or configuration of enterprise applicationstore and an application controller may be supported that allows usersto be service from one of several different locations in case offailure.

In some cases, managed applications 310 may be allowed to access acertificate and private key via an API (example OpenSSL). Trustedmanaged applications 310 of an enterprise may be allowed to performspecific Public Key operations with an application's client certificateand private key. Various use cases may be identified and treatedaccordingly, such as when an application behaves like a browser and nocertificate access is used, when an application reads a certificate for“who am I,” when an application uses the certificate to build a securesession token, and when an application uses private keys for digitalsigning of important data (e.g., transaction log) or for temporary dataencryption.

Referring now to FIG. 4, depicted is a block diagram of a system 400 ofan embedded browser. In brief overview, the system 400 may include aclient device 402 with a digital workspace for a user, a clientapplication 404, cloud services 408 operating on at least one networkdevice 432, and network applications 406 served from and/or hosted onone or more servers 430. The client application 404 can for instanceinclude at least one of: an embedded browser 410, a networking agent412, a cloud services agent 414, a remote session agent 416, or a securecontainer 418. The cloud services 408 can for instance include at leastone of: secure browser(s) 420, an access gateway 422 (or CIS, e.g., forregistering and/or authenticating the client application and/or user),or analytics services 424 (or CAS, e.g., for receiving information fromthe client application for analytics). The network applications 406 caninclude sanctioned applications 426 and non-sanctioned applications 428.

Each of the above-mentioned elements or entities is implemented inhardware, or a combination of hardware and software, in one or moreembodiments. Each component of the system 400 may be implemented usinghardware or a combination of hardware or software detailed above inconnection with FIG. 1. For instance, each of these elements or entitiescan include any application, program, library, script, task, service,process or any type and form of executable instructions executing onhardware of the client device 402, the at least one network device 432and/or the one or more servers 430. The hardware includes circuitry suchas one or more processors in one or more embodiments. For example, theat least one network device 432 and/or the one or more servers 430 caninclude any of the elements of a computing device described above inconnection with at least FIG. 1 for instance.

The client device 402 can include any embodiment of a computing devicedescribed above in connection with at least FIG. 1 for instance. Theclient device 402 can include any user device such as a desktopcomputer, a laptop computer, a tablet device, a smart phone, or anyother mobile or personal device. The client device 402 can include adigital workspace of a user, which can include file system(s), cache ormemory (e.g., including electronic clipboard(s)), container(s),application(s) and/or other resources on the client device 402. Thedigital workspace can include or extend to one or more networksaccessible by the client device 402, such as an intranet and theInternet, including file system(s) and/or other resources accessible viathe one or more networks. A portion of the digital workspace can besecured via the use of the client application 404 with embedded browser410 (CEB) for instance. The secure portion of the digital workspace caninclude for instance file system(s), cache or memory (e.g., includingelectronic clipboard(s)), application(s), container(s) and/or otherresources allocated to the CEB, and/or allocated by the CEB to networkapplication(s) 406 accessed via the CEB. The secure portion of thedigital workspace can also include resources specified by the CEB (viaone or more policies) for inclusion in the secure portion of the digitalworkspace (e.g., a particular local application can be specified via apolicy to be allowed to receive data obtained from a networkapplication).

The client application 404 can include one or more components, such asan embedded browser 410, a networking agent 412, a cloud services agent414 (sometimes referred to as management agent), a remote session agent416 (sometimes referred to as HDX engine), and/or a secure container 418(sometimes referred to as secure cache container). One or more of thecomponents can be installed as part of a software build or release ofthe client application 404 or CEB, or separately acquired or downloadedand installed/integrated into an existing installation of the clientapplication 404 or CEB for instance. For instance, the client device maydownload or otherwise receive the client application 404 (or anycomponent) from the network device(s) 432. In some embodiments, theclient device may send a request for the client application 404 to thenetwork device(s) 432. For example, a user of the client device caninitiate a request, download and/or installation of the clientapplication. The network device(s) 432 in turn may send the clientapplication to the client device. In some embodiments, the networkdevice(s) 432 may send a setup or installation application for theclient application to the client device. Upon receipt, the client devicemay install the client application onto a hard disk of the clientdevice. In some embodiments, the client device may run the setupapplication to unpack or decompress a package of the client application.In some embodiments, the client application may be an extension (e.g.,an add-on, an add-in, an applet or a plug-in) to another application(e.g., a networking agent 412) installed on the client device. Theclient device may install the client application to interface orinter-operate with the pre-installed application. In some embodiments,the client application may be a standalone application. The clientdevice may install the client application to execute as a separateprocess.

The embedded browser 410 can include elements and functionalities of aweb browser application or engine. The embedded browser 410 can locallyrender network application(s) as a component or extension of the clientapplication. For instance, the embedded browser 410 can render aSaaS/Web application inside the CEB which can provide the CEB with fullvisibility and control of the application session. The embedded browsercan be embedded or incorporated into the client application via anymeans, such as direct integration (e.g., programming language or scriptinsertion) into the executable code of the client application, or viaplugin installation. For example, the embedded browser can include aChromium based browser engine or other type of browser engine, that canbe embedded into the client application, using the Chromium embeddedframework (CEF) for instance. The embedded browser can include aHTML5-based layout graphical user interface (GUI). The embedded browsercan provide HTML rendering and JavaScript support to a clientapplication incorporating various programming languages. For example,elements of the embedded browser can bind to a client applicationincorporating C, C++, Delphi, Go, Java, .NET/Mono, Visual Basic 6.0,and/or Python.

In some embodiments, the embedded browser comprises a plug-in installedon the client application. For example, the plug-in can include one ormore components. One such component can be an ActiveX control or Javacontrol or any other type and/or form of executable instructions capableof loading into and executing in the client application. For example,the client application can load and run an Active X control of theembedded browser, such as in a memory space or context of the clientapplication. In some embodiments, the embedded browser can be installedas an extension on the client application, and a user can choose toenable or disable the plugin or extension. The embedded browser (e.g.,via the plugin or extension) can form or operate as a secured browserfor securing, using and/or accessing resources within the securedportion of the digital workspace.

The embedded browser can incorporate code and functionalities beyondthat available or possible in a standard or typical browser. Forinstance, the embedded browser can bind with or be assigned with asecured container 418, to define at least part of the secured portion ofa user's digital workspace. The embedded browser can bind with or beassigned with a portion of the client device's cache to form a securedclipboard (e.g., local to the client device, or extendable to otherdevices), that can be at least part of the secured container 418. Theembedded browser can be integrated with the client application to ensurethat traffic related to network applications is routed through and/orprocessed in the client application, which can provide the clientapplication with real-time visibility to the traffic (e.g., whendecrypted through the client application). This visibility to thetraffic can allow the client application to perform or facilitatepolicy-based management (e.g., including data loss prevention (DLP)capabilities), application control, and collection and production ofanalytics.

In some embodiments, the embedded browser incorporates one or more othercomponents of the client application 404, such as the cloud servicesagent 414, remote session agent 416 and/or secure container 418. Forinstance, a user can use the cloud services agent 414 of the embeddedbrowser to interoperate with the access gateway 422 (sometimes referredto as CIS) to access a network application. For example, the cloudservices agent 414 can execute within the embedded browser, and canreceive and transmit navigation commands from the embedded browser to ahosted network application. The cloud services agent can use a remotepresentation protocol to display the output generated by the networkapplication to the embedded browser. For example, the cloud servicesagent 414 can include a HTML5 web client that allows end users to accessremote desktops and/or applications on the embedded browser.

The client application 404 and CEB operate on the application layer ofthe operational (OSI) stack of the client device. The client application404 can include and/or execute one or more agents that interoperate withthe cloud services 408. The client application 404 can receive, obtain,retrieve or otherwise access various policies (e.g., an enterprise'scustom, specified or internal policies or rules) and/or data (e.g., froman access gateway 422 and/or network device(s) of cloud services 408, orother server(s), that may be managed by the enterprise). The clientapplication can access the policies and/or data to control and/or managea network application (e.g., a SaaS, web or remote-hosted application).Control and/or management of a network application can include controland/or management of various aspects of the network application, such asaccess control, session delivery, available features or functions,service level, traffic management and monitoring, and so on. The networkapplication can be from a provider or vendor of the enterprise (e.g.,salesforce.com, SAP, Microsoft Office 365), from the enterprise itself,or from another entity (e.g., Dropbox or Gmail service).

For example, the cloud services agent 414 can provide policy drivenmanagement capabilities and features related to the use and/or access ofnetwork applications. For example, the cloud services agent 414 caninclude a policy engine to apply one or more policies (e.g., receivedfrom cloud services) to determine access control and/or connectivity toresources such as network applications. When a session is establishedbetween the client application and a server 430 providing a SaaSapplication for instance, the cloud services agent 414 can apply one ormore policies to control traffic levels and/or traffic types (or otheraspects) of the session, for instance to manage a service level of theSaaS application. Additional aspects of the application traffic that canbe controlled or managed can include encryption level and/or encryptiontype applied to the traffic, level of interactivity allowed for a user,limited access to certain features of the network application (e.g.,print-screen, save, edit or copy functions), restrictions to use ortransfer of data obtained from the network application, limit concurrentaccess to two or more network applications, limit access to certain filerepositories or other resources, and so on.

The cloud services agent 414 can convey or feed information to analyticsservices 424 of the cloud services 408, such as information about SaaSinteraction events visible to the CEB. Such a configuration using theCEB can monitor or capture information for analytics without having aninline device or proxy located between the client device and theserver(s) 430, or using a SaaS API gateway ‘out-of-band’ approach. Insome embodiments, the cloud services agent 414 does not execute withinthe embedded browser. In these embodiments, a user can similarly use thecloud services agent 414 to interoperate with the access gateway (orCIS) 422 to access a network application. For instance, the cloudservices agent 414 can register and/or authenticate with the accessgateway (or CIS) 422, and can obtain a list of the network applicationsfrom the access gateway (or CIS) 422. The cloud services agent 414 caninclude and/or operate as an application store (or storefront) for userselection and/or downloading of network applications. Upon logging in toaccess a network application, the cloud services agent 414 can interceptand transmit navigation commands from the embedded browser to thenetwork application. The cloud services agent can use a remotepresentation protocol to display the output generated by the networkapplication to the embedded browser. For example, the cloud servicesagent 414 can include a HTML5 web client that allows end users to accessremote desktops and/or applications on the embedded browser.

In some embodiments, the cloud services agent 414 provides single signon (SSO) capability for the user and/or client device to access aplurality of network applications. The cloud services agent 414 canperform user authentication to access network applications as well asother network resources and services, by communicating with the accessgateway 422 for instance. For example, the cloud services agent 414 canauthenticate or register with the access gateway 422, to access othercomponents of the cloud services 408 and/or the network applications406. Responsive to the authentication or registration, the accessgateway 422 can perform authentication and/or SSO for (or on behalf of)the user and/or client application, with the network applications.

The client application 404 can include a networking agent 412. Thenetworking agent 412 is sometimes referred to as a software-defined widearea network (SD-WAN) agent, mVPN agent, or microVPN agent. Thenetworking agent 412 can establish or facilitate establishment of anetwork connection between the client application and one or moreresources (e.g., server 430 serving a network application). Thenetworking agent 412 can perform handshaking for a requested connectionfrom the client application to access a network application, and canestablish the requested connection (e.g., secure or encryptedconnection). The networking agent 412 can connect to enterpriseresources (including services) for instance via a virtual privatenetwork (VPN). For example, the networking agent 412 can establish asecure socket layer (SSL) VPN between the client application and aserver 430 providing the network application 406. The VPN connections,sometimes referred to as microVPN or application-specific VPN, may bespecific to particular network applications, particular devices,particular secured areas on the client device, and the like, forinstance as discussed above in connection with FIG. 3. Such VPNconnections can carry Microsoft Exchange traffic, Microsoft ActiveDirectory traffic, HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) traffic, HyperTextTransfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) traffic, as some examples.

The remote session agent 416 (sometimes referred to as HDX engine) caninclude features of the client agent 304 discussed above in connectionwith FIG. 2 for instance, to support display a remoting protocol (e.g.,HDX or ICA). In some embodiments, the remote session agent 416 canestablish a remote desktop session and/or remote application session inaccordance to any variety of protocols, such as the Remote DesktopProtocol (RDP), Appliance Link Protocol (ALP), Remote Frame Buffer (RFB)Protocol, and ICA Protocol. For example, the remote session agent 416can establish a remote application session for a user of the clientdevice to access an enterprise network application. The remote sessionagent 416 can establish the remote application session within or over asecure connection (e.g., a VPN) established by the networking agent 412for instance.

The client application or CEB can include or be associated with a securecontainer 418. A secure container can include a logical or virtualdelineation of one or more types of resources accessible within theclient device and/or accessible by the client device. For example, thesecure container 418 can refer to the entirety of the secured portion ofthe digital workspace, or particular aspect(s) of the secured portion.In some embodiments, the secure container 418 corresponds to a securecache (e.g., electronic or virtual clipboard), and can dynamicallyincorporate a portion of a local cache of each client device of a user,and/or a cloud-based cache of the user, that is protected or secured(e.g., encrypted). The secure container can define a portion of filesystem(s), and/or delineate resources allocated to a CEB and/or tonetwork applications accessed via the CEB. The secure container caninclude elements of the secure data container 228 discussed above inconnection with FIG. 2 for example. The CEB can be configured (e.g., viapolicies) to limit, disallow or disable certain actions or activities onresources and/or data identified to be within a secure container. Asecured container can be defined to specify that the resources and/ordata within the secure container are to be monitored for misuse, abuseand/or exfiltration.

In certain embodiments, a secure container relates to or involves theuse of a secure browser (e.g., embedded browser 410 or secure browser420) that implements various enterprise security features. Networkapplications (or web pages accessed by the secure browser) that areconfigured to run within the secure browser can effectively inherit thesecurity mechanisms implemented by the secure browser. These networkapplications can be considered to be contained within the securecontainer. The use of such a secure browser can enable an enterprise toimplement a content filtering policy in which, for example, employeesare blocked from accessing certain web sites from their client devices.The secure browser can be used, for example, to enable client deviceusers to access a corporate intranet without the need for a VPN.

In some embodiments, a secure container can support various types ofremedial actions for protecting enterprise resources. One such remedy isto lock the client device, or a secure container on the client devicethat stores data to be protected, such that the client device or securecontainer can only be unlocked with a valid code provided by anadministrator for instance. In some embodiments, these and other typesof remedies can be invoked automatically based on conditions detected onthe client device (via the application of policies for instance), or canbe remotely initiated by an administrator.

In some embodiments, a secure container can include a secure documentcontainer for documents. A document can comprise any computer-readablefile including text, audio, video, and/or other types of information ormedia. A document can comprise any single one or combination of thesemedia types. As explained herein, the secure container can help preventthe spread of enterprise information to different applications andcomponents of the client device, as well as to other devices. Theenterprise system (which can be partially or entirely within a cloudnetwork) can transmit documents to various devices, which can be storedwithin the secure container. The secure container can preventunauthorized applications and other components of the client device fromaccessing information within the secure container. For enterprises thatallow users to use their own client devices for accessing, storing, andusing enterprise data, providing secure container on the client deviceshelps to secure the enterprise data. For instance, providing securecontainers on the client devices can centralize enterprise data in onelocation on each client device, and can facilitate selective or completedeletion of enterprise data from each client device when desired.

The secure container can include an application that implements a filesystem that stores documents and/or other types of files. The filesystem can comprise a portion of a computer-readable memory of theclient device. The file system can be logically separated from otherportions of the computer-readable memory of the client device. In thisway, enterprise data can be stored in a secure container and privatedata can be stored in a separate portion of the computer-readable memoryof the client device for instance. The secure container can allow theCEB, network applications accessed via the CEB, locally installedapplications and/or other components of the client device to read from,write to, and/or delete information from the file system (if authorizedto do so). Deleting data from the secure container can include deletingactual data stored in the secure container, deleting pointers to datastored in the secure container, deleting encryption keys used to decryptdata stored in the secure container, and the like. The secure containercan be installed by, e.g., the client application, an administrator, orthe client device manufacturer. The secure container can enable some orall of the enterprise data stored in the file system to be deletedwithout modifying private data stored on the client device outside ofthe secure container. The file system can facilitate selective orcomplete deletion of data from the file system. For example, anauthorized component of the enterprise's system can delete data from thefile system based on, e.g., encoded rules. In some embodiments, theclient application can delete the data from the file system, in responseto receiving a deletion command from the enterprise's system.

The secure container can include an access manager that governs accessto the file system by applications and other components of the clientdevice. Access to the file system can be governed based on documentaccess policies (e.g., encoded rules) maintained by the clientapplication, in the documents and/or in the file system. A documentaccess policy can limit access to the file system based on (1) whichapplication or other component of the client device is requestingaccess, (2) which documents are being requested, (3) time or date, (4)geographical position of the client device, (5) whether the requestingapplication or other component provides a correct certificate orcredentials, (6) whether the user of the client device provides correctcredentials, (7) other conditions, or any combination thereof. A user'scredentials can comprise, for example, a password, one or more answersto security questions (e.g., What is the mascot of your high school?),biometric information (e.g., fingerprint scan, eye-scan), and the like.Hence, by using the access manager, the secure container can beconfigured to be accessed only by applications that are authorized toaccess the secure container. As one example, the access manager canenable enterprise applications installed on the client device to accessdata stored in the secure container and to prevent non-enterpriseapplications from accessing the data stored in the secure container.

Temporal and geographic restrictions on document access may be useful.For example, an administrator may deploy a document access policy thatrestricts the availability of the documents (stored within the securecontainer) to a specified time window and/or a geographic zone (e.g., asdetermined by a GPS chip) within which the client device must reside inorder to access the documents. Further, the document access policy caninstruct the secure container or client application to delete thedocuments from the secure container or otherwise make them unavailablewhen the specified time period expires or if the client device is takenoutside of the defined geographic zone.

Some documents can have access policies that forbid the document frombeing saved within the secure container. In such embodiments, thedocument can be available for viewing on the client device only when theuser is logged in or authenticated via the cloud services for example.

The access manager can also be configured to enforce certain modes ofconnectivity between remote devices (e.g., an enterprise resource orother enterprise server) and the secure container. For example, theaccess manager can require that documents received by the securecontainer from a remote device and/or sent from the secure container tothe remote device be transmitted through secured tunnels/connections,for example. The access manager can require that all documentstransmitted to and from the secure container be encrypted. The clientapplication or access manager can be configured to encrypt documentssent from the secure container and decrypt documents sent to the securecontainer. Documents in the secure container can also be stored in anencrypted form.

The secure container can be configured to prevent documents or dataincluded within documents or the secure container from being used byunauthorized applications or components of the client device or otherdevices. For instance, a client device application having authorizationto access documents from the secure container can be programmed toprevent a user from copying a document's data and pasting it intoanother file or application interface, or locally saving the document ordocument data as a new file outside of the secure container. Similarly,the secure container can include a document viewer and/or editor that donot permit such copy/paste and local save operations. Moreover, theaccess manager can be configured to prevent such copy/paste and localsave operations. Further, the secure container and applicationsprogrammed and authorized to access documents from the secure containercan be configured to prevent users from attaching such documents toemails or other forms of communication.

One or more applications (e.g., applications installed on the clientdevice, and/or network applications accessed via the CEB) can beprogrammed or controlled (e.g., via policy-based enforcement) to writeenterprise-related data only into the secure container. For instance, anapplication's source code can be provided with the resource name of thesecure container. Similarly, a remote application (e.g., executing on adevice other than the client device) can be configured to send data ordocuments only to the secure container (as opposed to other componentsor memory locations of the client device). Storing data to the securecontainer can occur automatically, for example, under control of theapplication, the client application, and/or the secure browser. Theclient application can be programmed to encrypt or decrypt documentsstored or to be stored within the secure container. In certainembodiments, the secure container can only be used by applications (onthe client device or a remote device) that are programmed to identifyand use the secure container, and which have authorization to do so.

The network applications 406 can include sanctioned network applications426 and non-sanctioned network applications 428. By way of anon-limiting example, sanctioned network applications 426 can includenetwork applications from Workday, Salesforce, Office 365, SAP, and soon, while non-sanctioned network applications 426 can include networkapplications from Dropbox, Gmail, and so on. For instance, FIG. 4illustrates a case where sanctioned applications 426 are accessed via aCEB. In operation (1), a user instance of a client application 404, thatis installed on client device 402, can register or authenticate with theaccess gateway 422 of cloud services 408. For example, the user canauthenticate the user to the client device and login to the clientdevice 402. The client application can automatically execute, or beactivated by the user. In some embodiments, the user can sign in to theclient application (e.g., by authenticating the user to the clientapplication). In response to the login or sign-in, the clientapplication can register or authenticate the user and/or the clientapplication with the access gateway 422.

In operation (2), in response to the registration or authentication, theaccess gateway 422 can identify or retrieve a list of enumerated networkapplications available or pre-assigned to the user, and can provide thelist to the client application. For example, in response to theregistration or authentication, the access gateway can identify the userand/or retrieve a user profile of the user. According to the identityand/or user profile, the access gateway can determine the list (e.g.,retrieve a stored list of network applications matched with the userprofile and/or the identity of the user). The list can correspond to alist of network applications sanctioned for the user. The access gatewaycan send the list to the client application or embedded browser, whichcan be presented via the client application or embedded browser to theuser (e.g., in a storefront user interface) for selection.

In operation (3), the user can initiate connection to a sanctionednetwork application (e.g., a SaaS application), by selecting from thelist of network applications presented to the user. For example, theuser can click on an icon or other representation of the sanctionednetwork application, displayed via the client application or embeddedbrowser. This user action can trigger the CEB to transmit a connectionor access request to a server that provisions the network application.The request can include a request to the server (e.g., SaaS provider) tocommunicate with the access gateway to authenticate the user. The servercan send a request to the access gateway to authenticate the user forexample.

In operation (4), the access gateway can perform SSO with the server, toauthenticate the user. For example, in response to the server's requestto authenticate the user, the access gateway can provide credentials ofthe user to the server(s) 430 for SSO, to access the selected networkapplication and/or other sanctioned network applications. In operation(5), the user can log into the selected network application, based onthe SSO (e.g., using the credentials). The client application (e.g., thenetworking agent 412 and/or the remote session agent 416) can establisha secure connection and session with the server(s) 430 to access theselected network application. The CEB can decrypt application trafficreceived via the secure connection. The CEB can monitor traffic sent viathe CEB and the secured connection to the servers 430.

In operation (6), the client application can provide information to theanalytics services 424 of cloud services 408, for analytics processing.For example, the cloud services agent 414 of the client application 404can monitor for or capture user interaction events with the selectednetwork application. The cloud services agent 414 can convey the userinteraction events to the analytics services 424, to be processed toproduce analytics.

FIG. 5 depicts an example embodiment of a system for using a securebrowser. In brief overview, the system includes cloud services 408,network applications 406 and client device 402. In some embodiments,various elements of the system are similar to that described above forFIG. 4, but that the client application (with embedded browser) is notavailable in the client device 402. A standard or typical browser may beavailable on the client device, from which a user can initiate a requestto access a sanctioned network application for instance. A networkapplication can be specified as being sanctioned or unsanctioned viapolicies that can be set by an administrator or automatically (e.g., viaartificial intelligence).

For example, in operation (1), the user may log into the networkapplication using the standard browser. For accessing a sanctionednetwork application, the user may access a predefined URL and/orcorresponding webpage of a server that provisions the networkapplication, via the standard browser, to initiate a request to accessthe network application. In some embodiments, the request can beforwarded to or intercepted by a designated gateway service (e.g., in adata path of the request). For example, the gateway service can resideon the client device (e.g., as an executable program), or can reside ona network device 432 of the cloud services 408 for instance. In someembodiments, the access gateway can correspond to or include the gatewayservice. The gateway service can determine if the requested networkapplication is a sanctioned network application. The gateway service candetermine if a CEB initiated the request. The gateway service can detector otherwise determine that the request is initiated from a source(e.g., initiated by the standard browser) in the client device otherthan a CEB. In some embodiments, there is no requirement for adesignated gateway service to detect or determine if the request isinitiated from a CEB, for example if the requested network applicationis sanctioned, that user is initiating the request via a standardbrowser, and/or that the predefined URL and/or corresponding webpage isaccessed.

In operation (2), the server may authenticate the user via the accessgateway of the cloud services 408. The server may communicate with theaccess gateway to authenticate the user, in response to the request. Forinstance, the request can include an indication to the server tocommunicate with the access gateway to authenticate the user. In someembodiments, the server is pre-configured to communicate with the accessgateway to authenticate the user, for requests to access a sanctionednetwork application. The server may send a request to the access gatewayto authenticate the user. In response to the server's request toauthenticate the user, the access gateway can provide credentials of theuser to the server 430.

In operation (3), the gateway service and/or the server can direct (orredirect) all traffic to a secure browser 420 which provides a securebrowsing service. This may be in response to at least one of: adetermination that the requested network application is a sanctionednetwork application, a determination that the request is initiated froma source other than a CEB, a determination that the requested networkapplication is sanctioned, a determination that user is initiating therequest via a standard browser, and/or a determination that thepredefined URL and/or corresponding webpage is accessed.

The user's URL session can be redirected to the secure browser. Forexample, the server, gateway service and/or the access gateway cangenerate and/or send a URL redirect message to the standard browser,responsive to the determination. The secure browser plug-in of thestandard browser can receive the URL redirect message, and can forexample send a request to access the non-sanctioned network application,to the secure browser 420. The secure browser 420 can direct the requestto the server of the non-sanctioned network application. The URLredirect message can instruct the standard browser (and/or the securebrowser plug-in) to direct traffic (e.g., destined for the networkapplication) from the standard browser to the secure browser 420 hostedon a network device. This can provide clientless access and control viadynamic routing though a secure browser service. In some embodiments, aredirection of all traffic to the secure browser 420 is initiated orconfigured, prior to performing authentication of the user (e.g., usingSSO) with the server.

In some embodiments, the gateway service can direct or request theserver of the requested network application to communicate with thesecure browser 420. For example, the gateway service can direct theserver and/or the secure browser to establish a secured connectionbetween the server and the secure browser, for establishing anapplication session for the network application.

In some embodiments, the secured browser 420 comprises a browser that ishosted on a network device 432 of the cloud services 408. The securedbrowser 420 can include one or more features of the secured browser 420described above in connection with at least FIG. 4 for instance. Thehosted browser can include an embedded browser of a CEB that is hostedon the network device 432 instead of on the client device. The hostedbrowser can include an embedded browser of a hosted virtualized versionof the CEB that is hosted on the network device 432. Similar to the CEBinstalled on the client device, traffic is routed through the CEB hostedon the network device, which allows an administrator to have visibilityof the traffic through the CEB and to remain in control for securitypolicy control, analytics, and/or management of performance.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example implementation for browser redirectionusing a secure browser plug-in. In brief overview, the implementationincludes a web browser 512 with a secure browser plug-in 516 operatingon a client device, and a hosted web browser (or secure browser) 522residing on a network device. The web browser 512 can correspond to astandard browser, instead of an embedded browser as discussed above inconnection with FIG. 4 for example. The secure browser plug-in 516 canexecute within a first network 510 and access a server 430 in a secondnetwork 530. The first network 510 and the second network 530 are forillustration purposes and may be replaced with fewer or additionalcomputer networks. A secure browser plug-in 516 can be installed on thestandard browser 512. The plug-in can include one or more components.One such component can include an ActiveX control or Java control or anyother type and/or form of executable instructions capable of loadinginto and executing in the standard browser. For example, the standardbrowser can load and run an Active X control of the secure browserplug-in 516, in a memory space or context of the standard browser. Insome embodiments, the secure browser plug-in can be installed as anextension on the standard browser, and a user can choose to enable ordisable the plugin or extension. The secure browser plug-in cancommunicate and/or operate with the secured browser 420 for securing,using and/or accessing resources within the secured portion of thedigital workspace.

By using the secure browser plug-in 516 operating within the standardbrowser 512 network applications accessed via the standard browser 512can be redirected to a hosted secure browser. For instance, the securebrowser plug-in 516 can be implemented and/or designed to detect that anetwork application is being accessed via the standard browser, and candirect/redirect traffic from the client device associated with thenetwork application, to the hosted secure browser. The hosted securebrowser can direct traffic received from the network application, to thesecure browser plug-in 516 and/or a client agent 514 for renderingand/or display for example. The client agent 514 can execute within theweb browser 512 and/or the secure browser plug-in, and can includecertain elements or features of the client application 404 discussedabove in connection with at least FIG. 4 for example. For instance, theclient agent 514 can include a remote session agent 416 for renderingthe network application at the web browser 512. In some embodiments, thenetwork application is rendered at the hosted secure browser, and therendered data is conveyed or mirrored to the secure browser plug-in 516and/or the client agent 514 for processing and/or display.

By way of an example, a user may be working remotely and may want toaccess a network application that is internal to a secure corporatenetwork while the user is working on a computing device connected to anunsecure network. In this case, the user may be utilizing the standardbrowser 512 executing in the first network 510, in which the firstnetwork 510 may comprise an unsecure network. The server 430 that theuser wants to access may be on the second network 530, in which thesecond network 530 comprises a secure corporate network for instance.The user might not be able to access the server 430 from the unsecurefirst network 510 by clicking on an internal uniform record locator(URL) for the secure website 532. That is, the user may need to utilizea different URL (e.g., an external URL) while executing the standardbrowser 512 from the external unsecure network 510. The external URL maybe directed to or may address one or more hosted web browsers 522configured to access server(s) 430 within the second network 530 (e.g.,secure network). To maintain secure access, the secure browser plug-in516 may redirect an internal URL to an external URL for a hosted securebrowser.

The secure browser plug-in 516 may be able to implement networkdetection in order to identify whether or not to redirect internal URLsto external URLs. The standard browser 512 may receive a requestcomprising an internal URL for a web site executing within the securenetwork. For example, the standard browser 512 may receive the requestin response to a user entering a web address (e.g., for secure website532) in the standard browser. The secure browser plug-in 516 mayredirect the user web browser application 512 from the internal URL toan external URL for a hosted web browser application. For example, thesecure browser plug-in 516 may replace the internal URL with an externalURL for the hosted web browser application 522 executing within thesecure network 530.

The secure browser plug-in 516 may allow the client agent 514 to beconnected to the hosted web browser application 522. The client agent514 may comprise a plug-in component, such as an ActiveX control or Javacontrol or any other type and/or form of executable instructions capableof loading into and executing in the standard browser 512. For example,the client agent 514 may comprise an ActiveX control loaded and run by astandard browser 512, such as in the memory space or context of the userweb browser application 512. The client agent 514 may be pre-configuredto present the content of the hosted web browser application 522 withinthe user web browser application 512.

The client agent 514 may connect to a server or the cloud/hosted webbrowser service 520 using a thin-client or remote-display protocol topresent display output generated by the hosted web browser application522 executing on the service 520. The thin-client or remote-displayprotocol can be any one of the following non-exhaustive list ofprotocols: the Independent Computing Architecture (ICA) protocoldeveloped by Citrix Systems, Inc. of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; or the RemoteDesktop Protocol (RDP) manufactured by the Microsoft Corporation ofRedmond, Wash.

The hosted web browser application 522 may navigate to the requestednetwork application in full-screen mode, and can render the requestednetwork application. The client agent 514 may present the content orrendition of the network application on the web browser application 512in a seamless and transparent manner such that it appears that thecontent is being displayed by the standard browser 512, e.g., based onthe content being displayed in full screen mode. In other words, theuser may be given the impression that the website content is displayedby the user web browser application 512 and not by the hosted webbrowser application 522. The client agent 514 may transmit navigationcommands generated by the user web browser application 512 to the hostedweb browser application 522 using the thin-client or remote-displayprotocol. Changes to the display output of the hosted web browserapplication 522, due to the navigation commands, may be reflected in theuser web browser application 512 by the client agent 514, giving theimpression to the user that the navigation commands were executed by theuser web browser application 512.

Referring again to FIG. 5, and in operation (4), a new browser tab canopen on the standard browser, to render or display the secure browsersession. The new browser tab can be established or opened by the securebrowser plug-in for instance. The secure browser plug-in and/or a clientagent can receive data from the secure browser session, and can renderthe network application within the new browser tab as discussed above inconnection with FIG. 6 for instance.

In operation (5), the secure browser can feed all user interactionevents via the network application, back to analytics service forprocessing. The secure browser plug-in can monitor for and intercept anyuser interaction events directed to the rendition of the networkapplication within the browser tab. Hence, a user can use a native (orstandard) browser to access a network application while allowingvisibility into the network application's traffic, via theinteroperation of cloud services and a secure browser (in the absence ofthe client application).

FIG. 7 depicts another example embodiment of a system of using a securebrowser. In brief overview, the system includes cloud services 408,network applications 406 and the client device 402. In some embodiments,various elements of the system are similar to that described above forFIG. 5. A client application with embedded browser is not available inthe client device 402. A standard or typical (e.g., HTML5) browser isavailable on the client device, from which a user can initiate a requestto access a non-sanctioned network application. A network applicationcan be specified as being sanctioned or non-sanctioned via policies thatcan be set by an administrator or automatically (e.g., via artificialintelligence).

In operation (1), the user may attempt to log into a non-sanctionednetwork application using the standard browser. The user may attempt toaccess a webpage of a server that provisions the network application,and to initiate a request to access the network application. In someembodiments, the request can be forwarded to or intercepted by adesignated gateway service (e.g., in a data path of the request). Forexample, the gateway service (sometimes referred to as SWG) can resideon the client device (e.g., as an executable program), or can reside ona network device 432 of the cloud services 408 for instance. The gatewayservice can detect or otherwise determine if the requested networkapplication is a sanctioned network application. The gateway service candetermine if a CEB initiated the request. The gateway service can detector otherwise determine that the request is initiated from a source(e.g., initiated by the standard browser) in the client device otherthan a CEB.

In operation (2), the gateway service detects that the requested networkapplication is a non-sanctioned network application. The gateway servicecan for instance extract information from the request (e.g., destinationaddress, name of the requested network application), and compare theinformation against that from a database of sanctioned and/ornon-sanctioned network applications. The gateway service can determine,based on the comparison, that the requested network application is anon-sanctioned network application.

In operation (3), responsive to the determination, the gateway servicecan block access to the requested network application, e.g., by blockingthe request. The gateway service can generate and/or send a URL redirectmessage to the standard browser, responsive to the determination. TheURL redirect message can be similar to a URL redirect message sent fromthe server to the standard browser in FIG. 5 in operation (3). A securebrowser plug-in of the standard browser can receive the URL redirectmessage, and can for example send a request to access the non-sanctionednetwork application, to the secure browser 420. The secure browser 420can direct the request to the server of the non-sanctioned networkapplication.

The server of the non-sanctioned network application may authenticatethe user via the access gateway of the cloud services 408, e.g.,responsive to receiving the request from the secure browser. The servermay communicate with the access gateway to authenticate the user, inresponse to the request. The server may send a request to the accessgateway to authenticate the user. In response to the server's request toauthenticate the user, the access gateway can provide credentials of theuser to the server 430. Upon authentication, the secure browser (or acorresponding CEB) can establish a secured connection and an applicationsession with the server.

In operation (4), a new browser tab can open on the standard browser, torender or display the secure browser's application session. The newbrowser tab can be established or opened by the secure browser plug-infor instance. The secure browser plug-in and/or a client agent canreceive data from the secure browser session, and can render the networkapplication within the new browser tab as discussed above in connectionwith FIGS. 5-6 for instance.

In operation (5), the secure browser can feed all user interactionevents via the network application, back to analytics service forprocessing. The secure browser plug-in can monitor for and intercept anyuser interaction events directed to the rendition of the networkapplication within the browser tab. Hence, a user can use a native (orstandard) browser to access a network application while allowingvisibility into the network application's traffic, via theinteroperation of cloud services and a secure browser (in the absence ofthe client application).

In some embodiments, in the absence or non-availability of a CEB on theclient device, browser redirection is performed so that each requestednetwork application is accessed via a corresponding hosted securebrowser (or hosted CEB) for handling, instead of having all trafficredirected through a single hosted secure browser (or hosted CEB). Eachdedicated secure browser can provide compartmentalization and improvedsecurity.

The use of a CEB, whether hosted or local to the client device, canallow for end-to-end visibility of application traffic for analytics,service level agreement (SLA), resource utilization, audit, and so on.In addition to such visibility, the CEB can be configured with policiesfor managing and controlling any of these as well as other aspects. Forexample, DLP features can be supported, to control “copy and paste”activities, download of files, sharing of files, and to implementwatermarking for instance. As another example, the CEB can be configuredwith policies for managing and controlling access to local drives and/ordevice resources such as peripherals.

Referring now to FIG. 8, an example embodiment of a system for usinglocal embedded browser(s) and hosted secured browser(s) is depicted. Anenvironment is shown where different types of client devices 402A, 402Bmay be used (e.g., in a BYOD context), such that one may be locallyequipped with a suitable CEB, and another client device may not have asuitable local CEB installed. In such an environment, systems describedin FIGS. 4, 5 and 7 can be used to support each of the client devicesbased on the availability of a locally installed and suitable CEB.

FIG. 9 depicts an example process flow for using local embeddedbrowser(s) and hosted secured browser(s). The process flow can be usedin the environment described above in FIG. 8, to determine whether anembedded browser or a hosted secured browser should be used for eachclient device to access a network application. For example, in operation901, a HTTP client can attempt to access a web service (e.g., server ofa network application). In operation 903, the web service can redirectthe HTTP client to a gateway service for authentication. In operation905, the gateway service can determine if the HTTP client is a CEB. Ifso, in operation 909, the gateway service can determine if the CEB is asuitable CEB, e.g., capable of enforcing defined application policies.If so, in operation 911, the CEB is allowed access to the web service,and can enforce the defined policies.

If the gateway service determines that the HTTP client is not a CEB, thegateway service can cause a virtualized version of a CEB to beinitialized and hosted on a remote server (e.g., a network device 432 ofcloud services 408), in operation 907. In some embodiments, such ahosted CEB may already be available on a network device 432, and can beselected for use. For example in operation 911, the CEB is allowedaccess to the web service, and can enforce the defined policies.

If the gateway service determines that the HTTP client is a CEB, butthat the CEB is not a suitable CEB, the gateway service can cause avirtualized version of a CEB to be initialized and hosted on a remoteserver (e.g., a network device 432 of cloud services 408), in operation907. In some embodiments, such a hosted CEB may already be available ona network device 432, and can be selected for use. For example inoperation 911, the CEB is allowed access to the web service, and canenforce the defined policies.

In some embodiments, if the user is requesting access to a webapplication located in a company data center, the gateway service (incloud service or on premise) can allow access when the clientapplication with CEB is detected. Otherwise, the request can be routedto a service with the hosted virtualized version of the CEB, and thenaccess is authenticated and granted.

At operation 905 and/or operation 909 for instance, the decisions madeon whether the HTTP client is a CEB and whether it is a suitable CEB maybe determined by a number of factors. For example, to determine if theHTTP client is CEB, the gateway service may take into account factors,for example including at least one of: user Identity and strength ofauthentication, client Location, client IP Address, how trusted the useridentity, client location, client IP are, jailbreak status of the clientdevice, status of anti-malware software, compliance to corporate policyof the client device, and/or remote attestation or other evidence ofintegrity of the client software.

To determine if the CEB is able to honor or support all definedapplication policies (which may vary by client version, client OSplatform and other factors), the client device's software and gatewayservice may perform capability negotiation and/or exchange versioninformation. In some embodiments, the gateway service can query or checka version number or identifier of the CEB to determine if the CEB is asuitable CEB to use.

Driving all the traffic though the CEB then allows additional control ofcontent accessing SaaS and Web based systems. Data Loss Prevention (DLP)of SaaS and Web traffic can be applied through the CEB app with featuresincluding copy and paste control to other CEB access applications or ITmanaged devices. DLP can also be enforced by enabling content to bedownloaded only to designated file servers or services under IT control.

Referring now to FIG. 10, depicted is an example embodiment of a systemfor managing user access to webpages. Some webpages (or websites) areknown to be safe while others may be suspect. A user may access awebpage via a corresponding URL through a standard browser. For example,the user may click on a link corresponding to the URL, which may beincluded in an email being viewed using a mail application. An accessgateway (SWG) may intercept an access request generated by the clickingof the link, and can determine if the corresponding URL is safe orsuspect. If the URL is known to be safe, the access gateway can allowthe request to proceed to the corresponding website or web server. Ifthe URL is suspect, the access gateway can redirect the request to behandled via a hosted secure browser. The secure browser can requestaccess for, and access the webpage (on behalf of the standard browser),and can allow the webpage information to be conveyed to the standardbrowser, similar to the handling of a network application via browserredirection as discussed in connection with at least FIGS. 7 and 5.

C. Systems and Methods for Incorporating Tags in Content of NetworkApplications

This disclosure is directed towards systems and methods forincorporating tags in content of network application. A digital rightsmanagement (DRM) engine may be configured to establish copyright orother digital rights for content delivered via network applications(such as Software as a Service (SaaS) applications) using an embeddedbrowser. The embedded browser may be implemented in a client application(also referred to as a workspace application or receiver application).The DRM engine may use tags (also referred to as DRM tags) to manage thedistribution of copyrighted data or content (or other content havingdigital rights associated therewith) within a network application andcontrol what users can do with the content once the content has beendistributed. DRM policies for a network application may identify suchcontent and specify any user restrictions and/or privileges associatedwith the content, and usage rights and/or restrictions, and may alsodefine the relationship between users and the content within the networkapplication context.

The DRM engine may incorporate, include and/or apply tags to contentfrom network applications that fall under digital rights management, byembedding tags defined within a DRM scheme specified for or associatedwith each network application. Such tags may be defined by a networkapplication provider, an enterprise (e.g., a corporation, aninstitution, a network including a number of client devices), etc. Eachnetwork application (and corresponding content) may be assigned orotherwise associated with a DRM scheme according to a common policyframework. The DRM engine may create or establish digital rights (suchas copyrights) and can use DRM tags to enforce licenses for digitalproducts and services provided by various network applications such asaudio, videos, downloads, software, etc., which is not already enforcedby an independent software vendor's digital rights management.Enterprises owning such digital rights may set access levels andencryption modes for their content (e.g., using DRM tags), create acustom interface (e.g., a web application) that lets a user obtaincontent based on those settings, and create an enforcement model toverify the user identity and track the usage of the content (e.g., viaDRM tags).

Although DRM information or requirements may be provided by the authorsof the content (like video, document), most of an enterprise's networkapplication content may not be protected. This disclosure provides astandard and/or automatic way to enforce DRM for any content deliveredvia an embedded browser. An embedded browser may provide policies toclassify data accessed from a network application into classificationsor categories (e.g., levels of confidentiality and/or sensitivity), suchas strictly confidential, confidential, internal and public data.

In some embodiments, the embedded browser may automatically classify andprotect documents based on the content within the document. Forinstance, if there is personally identifiable information (such ascredit card information) in a document, the embedded browser mayautomatically encrypt the document (including watermarking the document)when the document is generated, provided or downloaded, for instance.The originator of the document may also tag such a document based on thesensitive information in the document. Thus, such tagged documents thatare classified may be prevented from being emailed or conveyed toanother network application or location.

The aspects described herein allow enterprises to identify, defineand/or specify their sensitive content and to tag the contentappropriately as strongly sensitive, sensitive, internal or public forinstance. The various policies to manage DRM may prevent users fromemailing the content, sharing the content outside an enterprise networkor even uploading to other network applications within an enterprise. Insome embodiments, content may be tagged and provided as a sample formachine learning for tracking misuse and automatically classifyingsimilar documents. Thus, enterprises may classify, label and protecttheir content, so as to prevent data loss and data leakage.

The aspects described herein may identify and enforce digital rights bytagging all (or a subset) of enterprise content delivered via thenetwork applications, for sensitivity (and/or one or more otherattributes). Similar content generated or present within an enterprisemay be automatically identified (e.g., via machine learning, artificialintelligence) for tagging based on the enterprise sample (e.g., trainingsample) created by, for instance, a network administrator. Variouspolicies including restricting sharing, uploading, printing, emailingmay be applied when the tagged DRM content is being accessed. Accordingto content classification and content tagging, some content can beencrypted, and the content can be restricted to be downloaded and/orshared with privileged users. For instance, an outgoing documentcontaining sensitive information (and which is tagged accordingly) maybe automatically encrypted and secured without any additional actionrequired (e.g., by a user). The DRM policies and/or tags may specify toallow recipients to edit documents but not to save local copies, makeprintouts, or take screen shots, for instance.

Referring to FIG. 11, depicted is a block diagram of one embodiment of asystem 1100 for incorporating tags in content of network applications.The system 1100 may include one or more server(s) 1102 hosting andexecuting various network application(s) 1104. The system 1100 mayinclude a client device 1106 hosting and executing an embedded browser1108. The embedded browser 410 can render information or applicationdata of a network application 1104. The network application 1104 mayinclude and/or generate content 1110, which is delivered to the clientdevice 1106 for rendering on the embedded browser 1108. The embeddedbrowser 1108 may detect the content provided by the network applicationto the client device 1106. A storage device 1112 may be configured tostore a plurality of digital rights management (DRM) schemes 1114. A DRMengine 1116 of the embedded browser 1108 may identify a DRM scheme 1114for the network application 1104. The DRM engine 1116 may generate a DRMtag including a classification for the content, and may incorporate theDRM tag into the content from the network application 1104. The DRM tagmay be used to manage usage of the content according to theclassification. A DRM agent 1118 can monitor usage of the content and/orenforce DRM rights for the content according to the DRM tag incorporatedinto the content 1110.

Each of the above-mentioned elements or entities is implemented inhardware, or a combination of hardware and software, in one or moreembodiments. Each component of the system 1100 may be implemented usinghardware or a combination of hardware or software detailed above inconnection with FIG. 1. For instance, each of these elements or entitiescan include any application, program, library, script, task, service,process or any type and form of executable instructions executing onhardware of the client device 1106 (e.g., the client application 1120),the server(s) 1102 (e.g., the network applications 1104) and/or thestorage device 1112 (e.g., the DRM schemes 1114). The hardware includescircuitry such as one or more processors in one or more embodiments.

The server(s) 1102 may execute, provide, provision, and/or host one ormore network application(s) 1104. A network application 1104 may includeany type or form of network application 406 described above inconnection with at least FIGS. 2-5, 7, and 8. The server(s) 1102 mayinclude any embodiment of volatile memory 122 or non-volatile memory 128(discussed in FIG. 1 for example) which may host and/or store thenetwork applications 1108 (and/or corresponding application data). Theserver(s) 1102 may communicate with other various components of thesystem 1100 via a communications interface 118. Hence, the server(s)1102 may be similar in some aspects to the computer 101 described withreference to FIG. 1, and can include embodiments of one of more elementsof the computer 101. A network application 1104 may be accessed by theclient device 1106 via the embedded browser 1108. The networkapplication 1108 may include any type or form of network application 406previously detailed herein.

In some embodiments, a networking agent may establish, create, generate,or otherwise form one or more connections between the server(s) 1102 andthe client device 1106. In some embodiments, the networking agent mayinclude one or more elements of embodiments of the networking agent 412described above in reference to FIGS. 4 and 8. The client device 1106may execute (e.g., via one or more of the computing components depictedin FIG. 1) an embedded browser 1108 that can render information (e.g.,application data) from the network application 1104.

The networking agent is sometimes referred to as an SD-WAN agent, mVPNagent, or microVPN agent. The networking agent can establish orfacilitate establishment of a network connection between the clientdevice 1106 and the server(s) 1102 (which hosts and/or executes thenetwork applications 1104). The networking agent can perform handshakingfor a requested connection from the client device 1106 (e.g., from theembedded browser 1108 executing on the client device 1106) to access anetwork application 1104, and can establish the requested connection. Insome embodiments, the networking agent may establish a secure orencrypted connection. For instance, the networking agent may connect toenterprise resources (including services and network applications 1104)for instance via a virtual private network (VPN). For example, thenetworking agent can establish a secure socket layer (SSL) VPN betweenthe client device 1106 and the server(s) 1102, which can support remotedelivery or provisioning of one or more network applications 1104. TheVPN connections, sometimes referred to as microVPN orapplication-specific VPN, may be specific to particular networkapplications, particular devices, particular secured areas on the clientdevice, and the like, for instance as discussed above in connection withFIG. 3. Such VPN connections can carry Microsoft Exchange traffic,Microsoft Active Directory traffic, HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP)traffic, HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) traffic, as someexamples.

In some embodiments, the networking agent may be designed or implementedto form an HTTP or web-based session between the server(s) 1102 and theclient device 1106. The networking agent may establish a transmissioncontrol protocol (TCP) connection to the server 1102 (e.g., a port ofthe server 1102). The networking agent can exchange various commandswith the server 1102 within the HTTP session in accordance with TCP. Insome embodiments, the networking agent may establish a secure HTTP(e.g., HTTPS) session in a manner similar to the secure connectionsdescribed above. In these embodiments, the networking agent can form orestablish the network connection between the server(s) 1102 and theclient device 1106. In some embodiments, the networking agent may formor establish a secure connection (e.g., SSL VPN connection) between theserver(s) 1102 and the client device 1106.

The client device 1106 may be designed or implemented to initiate aprovisioning session to deliver a remotely-hosted application (e.g., anetwork application). The client device 1106 may initiate theprovisioning session to deliver the remotely-hosted application when auser operating the client device 1106 requests access to, launches, orotherwise selects the remotely-hosted application. The client device1106 may initiate the provisioning session within or across the networkconnection established by the networking agent. In some embodiments, aremote session agent may initiate the provisioning session (e.g., whichmay be established using Citrix high definition user experience (HDX) orindependent computing architecture (ICA) protocol, or remote desktopprotocol (RDP)). The remote session agent may initiate the provisioningsession in accordance with any type or form of protocols, such as RDP,Appliance Link Protocol (ALP), Remote Frame Buffer (RFB) Protocol, andICA Protocol. Such protocols can allow user interface (UI) elements ofan application or desktop session (or other application data from thenetwork applications 1104) that is natively hosted on the server(s)1102, to be generated at the server(s) 1102 and provisioned to a clientdevice, for instance.

In some embodiments, at least one of the network applications 1104 maycorrespond to or a software-as-a-service (SaaS) application. A SaaSapplication can include or correspond to a centrally-hosted applicationwhich may be accessible on a subscription basis. In some embodiments,the SaaS applications can include or correspond to web-basedapplications. In other embodiments, the SaaS applications may correspondto remote-hosted applications and, therefore, can be delivered inHDX/ICA/RDP-based sessions and/or connections.

In some embodiments, the network applications 1104 may be or includeword processing applications, remote storage applications, file sharingapplications, etc. Hence, the network applications 1104 may beconfigured to store, generate, produce, etc. and deliver content 1110.The content 1110 may include documents, such as enterprise-generateddocuments (e.g., employee documents, charts, graphs, financialstatements, and/or other documents which are typically generated withinan enterprise). The content 1110 may include images, which may be GUIelements, graphical dashboard configuration, or other types of images,audio files, video files, etc. The content 1110 may include software,much may be scripts or GUI widgets delivered to the embedded browser1106 for execution on the client device 1106.

The content 1110 described above may be subject to a digital rightsmanagement policy. Digital rights management may be or include a set ofrules or restrictions corresponding to digital content. The digitalrights management may include management of copyrights, softwarelicenses, prevention of inadvertent release, unauthorized access, etc.For instance, documents originating within an enterprise may becopyrighted, watermarked, encrypted, etc., according to the digitalrights management policies.

The network application(s) 1104 may be configured to deliver content1110 to the client device 1106. In some embodiments, the networkapplication(s) 1104 may deliver the content 1110 to the client deviceacross the provisioning session described above. The networkapplication(s) 1104 may be configured to deliver the content 1110responsive to a user operating the client device 1106 interacting withthe network application 1104. The user may provide an input forlaunching the network application 1104 (e.g., by providing a URLassociated with the network application 1104, selecting a shortcut forthe network application 1104, and so forth). The client device 1106 maybe configured to provide the input to the server(s) 1102 hosting thenetwork application 1104. The client device 1106 and/or server 1102 mayinitiate the provisioning session, and the network application 1104 maydeliver content 1110 across the provisioning session responsive toreceiving the input for launching the network application 1104. As theuser interacts with the network application 1104 on the client device1106, the network application 1104 may correspondingly deliver content1110 to the client device 1106.

The network application 1104 may be configured to deliver the content tothe embedded browser 1108. The embedded browser 1108 may be configuredto detect the content 1110 provided by the network application 1104 tothe embedded browser 1108. In some embodiments, the embedded browser1108 may be included in or executed within a client application 1120.The client application 1120 may include one or more elements of anyembodiment of the client application 404 previously detailed herein. Theclient application 1120 with the embedded browser 1108 (CEB) can includeone or more elements of any embodiment of a CEB as previously describedherein with reference to FIGS. 4 and 8.

The embedded browser 1108 may be designed or implemented to sense,identify and or detect content 1110 from a network application 1104accessed via the embedded browser 1108. The embedded browser 1108 mayinclude or correspond to a parse configured to parse, interpret,inspect, evaluate and/or analyze data from the network application 1104.For instance, the embedded browser 1108 may parse data from the networkapplication 1108 for rendering the data to the user. In someembodiments, the embedded browser 1108 may include or correspond to acomponent, element, circuit, and/or device of the DRM engine 1116 (orvice versa), which is described in greater detail below.

The embedded browser 1108 may detect the content 1110 in a number ofways. In general, a user may select, access, activate, run, launch orotherwise execute the network application 1104 using the embeddedbrowser 1108. When content is streamed, provisioned, provided,communicated, transmitted, or otherwise sent from network application(s)1104 executing on the server(s) 1102 to the embedded browser 1108 of theclient device 1106, the embedded browser 1108 may be configured toidentify or detect the content 1110 from the network application 1104.Whenever the network application 1104 provides data to the client device1106, the embedded browser 1108 may flag, identify, or otherwise detectthe incoming or detected data as content 1110 from the networkapplication 1104.

The system 1100 is shown to include a storage device 1112. The storagedevice 1112 may be designed or implemented to store various informationand data. The storage device 1112 may be embodied on or included in theserver(s) 1102 hosting the network applications 1104, may be fileservers, storage area networks (SANs). In some embodiments, the storagedevice 1112 may be a part of, an aspect or component of, or included incloud services 408 described above. In some embodiments, the storagedevice 1112 may be located or embodied on the client device 1106. Insome embodiments, the storage device 1112 may be located on anintermediary device between the server(s) 1102 and client device 1106, asecondary device communicably coupled to and accessed by the clientdevice 1106 and/or server(s) 1102, etc.

The storage device 1112 may be designed or implemented to store variousDRM schemes 1114. A DRM scheme 1114 may be a system, structure, outline,etc., for generating and/or applying DRM tags for different types ofinformation. The DRM scheme 1114 may be configured to classify ororganize content and information based on type of information (e.g.,images, documents, audio or video files, software), based on source ofinformation (e.g., specific network application, type of networkapplication), and so forth. The DRM scheme 1114 may indicate a policyassociated with particular content, such as level of sensitivity orconfidentiality, access control specifications, encryption orwatermarking requirements, etc. The DRM schemes 1114 may be defined byor created by an administrator for an enterprise, a developer of thenetwork applications 1104, etc.

The DRM scheme 1114 may indicate if certain types of information incontent 1110 (e.g., documents or files containing personallyidentifiable data, financial data, account information, user id,passwords, and so on, audio or video files, documents, software, etc.)and/or information fitting certain profiles, should be subject to theDRM tagging feature of the embedded browser 1108. In some embodiments,the policies may identify predefined types of content and/or informationfor applying the DRM tagging feature. The predefined types of contentand/or information may include personally identified information (PII),such as physical home address, email address, passport number, vehicleregistration plate number, driver's license number, credit card numbers,telephone number, dollar amounts, and date of birth, and among others.In some embodiments, the predefined types of information (e.g., incontent) may include confidential or restricted information, such ascustomer information, pricing information, and so on. In someembodiments, the predefined types of information may include metadata,sender name, and recipient name, among others.

The DRM scheme 1114 may be designed or implemented to store DRM tagsassociated with each type and/or source of information. The DRM tags maybe stored on or included within the storage device 1114. In someembodiments, the DRM tags may be stored on or included within a locationseparate from the storage device 1114 but accessible by the DRM engine1116, as described in greater detail below. For instance, the DRM tagsmay be stored on or included within the server(s) 1102 which host thenetwork application(s) 1102, different server(s), cloud services, etc.The DRM tags may be stored in association with particular networkapplications 1104. In these embodiments, the DRM tags may beincorporated into content 1110 from the network application 1104 whenthe content 1110 is identified as coming from the network application1104.

A DRM tag may comprise metadata incorporated into the content 1110. ADRM tag may correspond to information included in a header or standardfield of packets of the content 1110. A DRM tag can be included in aseparate file included within the content 1110, etc. The DRM tags may beincluded in a predetermined portion of the content file 1110 or may beseparate from and/or accompanying the content 1110. As an example, wherethe content comprises program files or libraries, the DRM tag can beincorporated in any component of the associated program files orlibraries, etc.

The DRM tags and associated types and/or sources of content may beindicated in a look-up table, for instance. The DRM tags may correspondto tags incorporated in, coupled to, or otherwise integrated withspecific content 1110 which describe the digital rights associatedtherewith. The DRM tags may identify the sensitivity or confidentialityof the content. The DRM tags may identify a classification of content,such as top secret, secret, strictly confidential, confidential,strongly sensitive, sensitive, proprietary, internal (or not fordistribution outside of the enterprise), subject to attorney-clientprivilege, public, etc. The level of sensitivity/confidentiality maycorrespond to availability of the content to particular users orpersonnel within the enterprise (such as management only, or managementand people working on a particular project, or only people in aparticular department working on a particular project, etc.).

The DRM tags may identify an access control specification for particularuser(s), action(s) and/or content. For instance, access controlspecification may indicate whether specific users or groups of users areallowed or restricted from sharing, uploading, copying, renaming,downloading, printing, emailing, saving, screen-capturing, editing,modifying, etc., the content. In some embodiments, the DRM tags mayidentify that some users are allowed to perform functions which otherusers are not allowed to perform. For instance, users identified asbeing part of an organization's management may be allowed full access tosome documents, while lower level workers may be denied access to thesame documents, or denied the ability to edit or share the document, andso on. As another example, an owner (or creator) of a file may havepermissions to read, write, execute the file, an administrator maysimilarly have the ability to read, write, execute the file, while otherusers may only be able to read the file.

A DRM tag may identify a watermark or encryption requirement forcontent. For instance, the DRM tags may indicate that some content 1110is to be watermarked. As one example, a DRM tag for documents mayindicate that all documents which are sent outside the enterprise areautomatically watermarked with their classification (e.g., strictlyconfidential, sensitive, and so forth). As another example, the DRM tagsmay indicate that all documents having a classification of strictlyconfidential or higher are not permitted to be emailed or otherwiseshared outside the enterprise. The DRM tags may also indicate that somecontent 1110 is to be encrypted. As one example, a DRM tag of anycontent which is capable of being shared outside the enterprise mayindicate that the content is to be automatically encrypted when sharedoutside the enterprise.

The DRM tags may identify various information associated with thecontent 1110. For instance, the DRM tags may include author or sourceinformation (e.g., the network application 1104 and/or the user whogenerated the content 1110), copyright information pertaining to thecontent 1110, software and/or open source licenses associated with thecontent 1110, version or revision history for the content 1110, owner ofthe content 1110 (e.g., the company, the user, etc.).

The embedded browser 1108 may include a DRM engine 1116. The DRM engine1116 may be designed or implemented to identify or select a DRM scheme1114 from the plurality of DRM schemes 1114 stored in the storage device1112. The DRM engine 1116 may be configured to access the storage device1112 responsive to receiving content 1110 from a network application. Insome embodiments, the DRM engine 1116 may identify the source of thecontent 1110 (e.g., the particular type of network application 1104, thespecific network application 1104, etc., which delivered the content tothe client device 1106).

When the embedded browser 1108 detects content 1110 from the networkapplication 1104, the DRM engine 1116 may access the storage device 1112to identify a DRM scheme 1114 associated with the content 1110. In someembodiments, the DRM engine 1116 may identify a DRM scheme based on thenetwork application 1104 which delivered the content 1110 to the clientdevice 1106. In some embodiments, each network application 1104 mayinclude a corresponding DRM scheme 1114. In some embodiments, differenttypes of network applications 1104 may have corresponding DRM schemes1114. The DRM engine 1116 may be configured to identify the networkapplication 1104 which communicated the content 1110 to the clientdevice 1106. The DRM engine 1116 may identify the network application1104 based on data from the network application 1104 (such as packets,bits/bytes in a specific field of packet headers, which identify thenetwork application 1104), and/or information from the networking agentand/or remote session agent, etc. The DRM engine 1116 may access thestorage device 1112 to determine which DRM scheme 1114 corresponds tothe network application 1104 (or network application 1104 type).

In some embodiments, the DRM engine 1116 may determine the DRM scheme1114 for the content 1110 based on the type of content 1110. Forinstance, the DRM schemes 1114 may identify or assign DRM tags forspecific types of content (e.g., documents, audio or video, images,software, and so forth). Each of these types of content may include acorresponding DRM scheme 1114. For example, where the content 1110 isaudio, the DRM engine 1116 may identify the content 1110 as audio in anumber of ways (e.g., based on the file format [e.g., WAV, MP3, MPEG],data within the content 1110 which identifies the content 1110 as audio,the source of the audio [e.g., network application 1104 being an audiostreaming application, a voice over internet protocol application], andso forth). Similar examples may be provided for the different types ofcontent. Hence, the DRM engine 1116 may identify the type of content1110 from the network application 1104. The DRM engine 1116 may accessthe storage device 1112 to determine the DRM scheme 1114 associated withthe type of content 1110.

The DRM engine 1116 may be designed or implemented to generate a DRM tagfor the content 1110. In some embodiments, the DRM engine 1116 maygenerate the DRM tag in accordance with the DRM scheme 1114 identifiedfor the content 1110. As stated above, the DRM scheme 1114 may be orinclude a system, structure, outline, etc., for creating, generatingand/or applying DRM tags to different types of information. The DRMscheme 1114 may be configured to organize content and information basedon type of information (e.g., images, documents, audio or video files,software), based on source of information (e.g., specific networkapplication, type of network application), and so forth. The DRM scheme1114 may indicate a policy associated with particular content, such aslevel of sensitivity or confidentiality, access control specifications,encryption or watermarking requirements, etc. The DRM schemes 1114 maybe defined by an administrator for an enterprise, a developer of thenetwork applications 1104, etc.

The DRM engine 1116 may be designed or implemented to generate a DRM tagwhich classifies the content 1110 (e.g., as strictly confidential,confidential, strongly sensitive, sensitive, internal, or public,secret, top secret, company proprietary, not for distribution (outsidecompany), privileged, subject to attorney-client privilege, and so on).The DRM engine 1116 may generate the DRM tag which assigns accesscontrol specifications, encryption requirements, watermarkingrequirements, etc., for the content 1110. The DRM tag generated by theDRM engine 1116 may also include author/source information, and variouspermissions.

In some embodiments, when the DRM engine 1116 generates a DRM tag forspecific content, the DRM engine 1116 may store the DRM tag forsubsequent use. For instance, the DRM engine 1116 may store the DRM tagin the server(s) 1102, cloud services, storage device 1114, etc. The DRMengine 1116 may store the DRM tag in association with the networkapplication 1102 and/or the content 1110. The stored DRM tag may beinserted into the same or other content provided by the same instance ofthe network application 1102 accessed via the client device 1106, or bya different session or instance of the network application 1102 by adifferent client device 1106 (or same client device 1106 at a differentpoint in time).

The DRM engine 1116 may be designed or implemented to incorporate theDRM tag into the content 1110. The DRM engine 1116 may incorporate theDRM tag into a predetermined location of the data file for the content1110. The DRM tags may be or include metadata incorporated into thecontent 1110, a header or other data format included in the content1110, a separate file included within the content 1110, etc. Where theDRM tags are separate from the content 1110, the DRM tag and content1110 may be bundled together similar to a software package, a collectionof software scripts or libraries, etc.

As a brief example, a user may execute a file sharing application (e.g.,network application). The user may then request a specific file from thefile sharing application. The embedded browser 1108 may identify thecontent 1110 delivered from the network application 1104 (e.g., the filesharing application) to the embedded browser 1108. The DRM engine 1116may access the storage device 1112 to determine the DRM scheme 1114associated with the content 1110 and/or network application. The DRMengine 1116 may then generate and incorporate a DRM tag into the content1110 from the network application 1104. In this particular example, theDRM tag may limit the sharing of the file from the file sharingapplication to any parties outside of the enterprise.

In some embodiments, the DRM engine 1116 may include or access a neuralnetwork or machine learning algorithm for identifying content 1110and/or for incorporating tags to content 1110. The DRM engine 1116 mayuse a trained model to identify one or more portions of the informationthat can trigger the DRM tagging feature. The DRM engine 1116 may usethe model to identify misuse of content, classify content, controlaccess to content, restrict actions on content, etc. In someembodiments, the model may be part of a natural language processingalgorithm for analyzing speech content. The model may include formats orregular expressions for predefined types of information content. In someembodiments, the model may include an artificial neural network with oneor more weights. The DRM engine 1116 may train the model using atraining dataset.

The training dataset may include textual corpus labeled as correlatingto the predefined types of content 1110. The textual corpus of thetraining dataset may for instance include sample physical homeaddresses, email addresses, passport numbers, vehicle registration platenumbers, driver's license numbers, credit card numbers, telephonenumbers, dollar amounts, and dates of births, other among others. Oncethe model is trained, the DRM engine 1116 may use the model to parse theinformation. In parsing the information, the DRM engine 1116 mayrecognize or identify the one or more portions of the information asmatching one of the predefined types of information in accordance with apolicy. In some embodiments, the DRM engine 1116 may assign a score forthe one or more portions of the information identified as matching oneof the predefined types of content 1110. The score may indicate alikelihood of match. Based on the score and/or matching, the DRM engine1116 can determine which type of content 1110 is delivered from thenetwork application 1104. Based on the type of content 1110 (and DRMtag), the DRM engine 1116 may determine whether such content is beingused properly, accessed properly, etc. The DRM engine 1116 may beconfigured to restrict actions on the content based on the determinedtype of content 1110 and DRM tag.

In some embodiments, the DRM engine 1116 may use the neural networkand/or machine learning algorithm for incorporating the tag into thecontent 1110. The DRM engine 1116 may train the model using a trainingdataset. The training dataset may include content and corresponding DRMtags. Once the model is trained, the DRM engine 1116 may use the modelfor tagging content 1110. The DRM engine 1116 may parse the content 1110to determine which DRM tag to apply to the content 1110. For instance,the DRM engine 1116 may assign a score to the DRM tag applied to thecontent 1110, which may be used for evaluating the effectiveness orperformance of the DRM tag applied to the content 1110.

As illustrated in FIG. 11, the system 1100 is shown to include a DRMagent 1118. The DRM agent 1118 may be designed or implemented to monitorusage of the content according to the DRM tag for the content 1100. TheDRM agent 1118 may reside and/or execute on the client device 1106 asshown. The DRM agent 1118 may reside on an intermediary device or asecondary device. The DRM agent 1118 may reside on a component ofanother application (e.g., a word processing application, an embeddedbrowser, etc., such that the DRM agent 1118 monitors usage of thecontent in the particular application). The DRM agent 1118 may be acomponent of cloud services which monitors content usage.

The DRM agent 1118 may be designed or implemented to monitor usage ofthe content 1110 according to the DRM tag incorporated in the content1110. In some embodiments, usage of the content 1110 may be routedthrough the DRM agent 1118. The DRM agent 1118 may be designed orimplemented to perform endpoint analysis and/or inspection of thecontent at any enterprise network node (e.g., in any client device1106). Hence, the DRM agent 1118 may generally identify the usage of thecontent 1110. The DRM agent 1118 may determine what actions are beingtaken on the content 1110. For instance, the DRM agent 1118 maydetermine whether the user attempts to send the content 1110 outside theenterprise, edit the content 1110, download or upload the content 1110,etc. The DRM agent 1118 may identify the DRM tag for the content 1110 todetermine whether such action by the user is permissible according tothe DRM tag.

In some embodiments, the DRM agent 1118 may determine whether actionsare permissible based on a policy and the DRM tag. The system 1100 caninclude one or more policies. The policies can be accessed, retrieved,selected, applied and/or otherwise used by the DRM agent 1118 (and/orother components of the system 1100) to manage access and privileges forcontent 1110 from network application(s) 1104 accessed via the embeddedbrowser 1108. The policies can be stored or maintained in the storagedevice 1114, on the client device 1106 and/or in a network locationaccessible by the DRM agent 1118. The DRM agent 1118 can apply the oneor more policies 1104 on a network application 1104 being accessed viathe embedded browser 1108. For example, the DRM agent 1118 can apply theone or more policies on the content 1110 of the network application 1104and/or on the DRM tag for the content 1110. For example, because the useof an embedded browser 1108 allows for real-time visibility intoinformation provisioned or generated through the network application1104 (accessed via the embedded browser 1108), for instance even beforesuch information is rendered by the embedded browser 1108, the DRM agent1118 can analyze or otherwise process the information to determineaccess and privileges associated with content 1110 prior to the content1110 being delivered to the client device 1106. The DRM agent 1118 canfor instance apply one or more policies 1104 dynamically to theinformation to generate and/or dynamically update the access to thecontent 1110 and/or privileges.

In some embodiments, the policies can indicate if certain users, groupsof users, and/or users fitting certain profiles, have certain rights orprivileges pertaining to particular content 1110 and/or types of content1110. For example, where a management-level member accesses content 1110from a particular network application 1104, the member may have rightswhich indicate they can send, edit, copy, etc., the content 1110.However, where a janitor attempts to access the same content 1110, thejanitor may not have such privileges. The policies may indicate rights,privileges, security or clearance levels, etc., associated with varioususers or types of users within an enterprise.

The policies can indicate if certain network applications 1104, groupsof network applications 1104, and/or network applications 1104 fittingcertain profiles, should be subject to the DRM tagging feature of theembedded browser 1108. For example, if a network application meets acertain profile being tracked via a policy, such as susceptibility todisclosing, provisioning, or otherwise providing for communication ofpotentially sensitive or confidential information or information havingdigital rights associated therewith (e.g., personally identifiable data,corporate sales figures, customer database), the policies may indicatethat such a network application should have content 1110 tagged with DRMtags. Such DRM tags may act as a deterrent and/or tracking mechanism forcontent 1110 having digital rights associated therewith.

The DRM agent 1118 may be designed or implemented to permit or denyactions on or corresponding to the content 1110 based on the DRM tag forthe content. As stated above, the DRM agent 1118 may permit or denyactions on or corresponding to the content 1110 based on the DRM tag andthe policies outlined above. In instances where the DRM agent 1118denies access or actions on or corresponding to the content 1110, theDRM agent 1118 may be designed or implemented to inform or instruct theuser that they do not have the corresponding permission, to inform anadministrator of the attempted actions, etc.

In some embodiments, the DRM agent 1118 may be designed or implementedto encrypt or watermark the content 1110 in accordance with the DRM tag.The DRM agent 1118 may include or access encryption algorithms,watermarking algorithms, etc. The DRM agent 1118 may identify thecontent 1110 delivered to the client device 1106. The DRM agent 1118 mayidentify the DRM tag for the content 1110. When the DRM tag indicatesthat the content 1110 is to be watermarked or encrypted, the DRM agent1118 may execute the encryption/watermarking algorithms to encrypt orwatermark the content 1110 in accordance with the DRM tag.

In embodiments where the DRM tag indicates or specifies encryptionand/or watermarking requirements for the content 1110, the DRM agent1118 may be designed or implemented to verify the encryption and/orwatermarking present in the content. The DRM agent 1118 may compare therequirements from the DRM tag to the current status of the content 1110.Where the DRM agent 1118 identifies a mismatch (e.g., that the content1110 is not properly encrypted or watermarked), the DRM agent 1118 mayreport such a mismatch to an administrator. The administrator maymodify, for instance, the encryption or watermarking algorithms toaddress such issues.

Referring to FIG. 12, depicted is a flow diagram of one embodiment of amethod for incorporating a watermark in audio output. Thefunctionalities of the method may be implemented using, or performed by,the components detailed herein in connection with FIGS. 1-11. In briefoverview, a client device may establish a provisioning session with anetwork application (1200). An embedded browser can detect content(1205). The embedded browser can identify a DRM scheme (1210). Theembedded browser can generate a DRM tag (1215). The embedded browser canincorporate the DRM tag (1220). A DRM agent can monitor usage of thecontent (1225).

Referring now to operation (1200), and in some embodiments, a clientdevice may establish a provisioning session with a network application.In some embodiments, the client device may be provided access to aplurality of network applications hosted on one or more servers. Theclient device may be provided access to the plurality of networkapplications via a client application executing on the client device. Auser operating the client device may select, launch, execute, requestaccess to, or otherwise establish a provisioning session with a networkapplication. The user may select the network application on an embeddedbrowser of the client device. In some embodiments, a networking agentmay establish, create, generate, or otherwise form one or moreconnections between server(s) hosting the network application and theclient device. The client device may execute the embedded browser thatcan render information (e.g., content) from the network application.

A networking agent, which may be hosted on the client device and/or theserver(s) hosting the network application, may establish, create,generate, or otherwise form one or more connections between theserver(s) and the client device. The networking agent can establish orfacilitate establishment of a network connection between the clientdevice and the server(s) (which hosts and/or executes the networkapplications). The networking agent can perform handshaking for arequested connection from the client device (e.g., from the embeddedbrowser executing on the client device) to access a network application,and can establish the requested connection. In some embodiments, thenetworking agent may establish a secure or encrypted connection. Forinstance, the networking agent may connect to enterprise resources(including services and network applications) for instance via a virtualprivate network (VPN). For example, the networking agent can establish asecure socket layer (SSL) VPN between the client device and theserver(s), which can support remote delivery or provisioning of one ormore network applications. The VPN, sometimes referred to as microVPN orapplication-specific VPN, may be specific to particular networkapplications, particular devices, particular secured areas on the clientdevice, and the like. Such VPN connections can carry Microsoft Exchangetraffic, Microsoft Active Directory traffic, HyperText Transfer Protocol(HTTP) traffic, HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) traffic, assome examples.

In some embodiments, the networking agent may form an HTTP or web-basedsession between the server(s) and the client device. The networkingagent may establish a transmission control protocol (TCP) connection tothe server (e.g., a port of the server hosting the network application).The networking agent can exchange various commands with the serverwithin the HTTP session in accordance with TCP. In some embodiments, thenetworking agent may establish a secure HTTP (e.g., HTTPS) session in amanner similar to the secure connections described above.

The client device may initiate the provisioning session to deliver theremotely-hosted application (e.g., the network application) when a useroperating the client device requests access to, launches, or otherwiseselects the remotely-hosted application. The client device may initiatethe provisioning session within or across the network connectionestablished by the networking agent. In some embodiments, a remotesession agent may initiate the provisioning session (e.g., which may beestablished using Citrix high definition user experience (HDX) orindependent computing architecture (ICA) protocol, or remote desktopprotocol (RDP)). The remote session agent may initiate the provisioningsession in accordance with any type or form of protocols, such as RDP,Appliance Link Protocol (ALP), Remote Frame Buffer (RFB) Protocol, andICA Protocol. Such protocols can allow user interface (UI) elements ofan application or desktop session (or other application data from thenetwork applications) that is natively hosted on the server(s), to begenerated at the server(s) and provisioned to a client device, forinstance.

The network application may include or correspond to an applicationwhich generates or communicates content to the client device. Thecontent may be or include audio or video data, documents, software, etc.Hence, the network application may be or include audio or videostreaming applications, file sharing applications, software distributionapplications, etc. The content may be streamed, communicated,provisioned, or otherwise sent from the server hosting the networkapplication to the client device.

Referring now to operation (1205), and in some embodiments, the embeddedbrowser can detect content. In some embodiments, the embedded browser,which may be executable on a client device, detects content from thenetwork application accessed via the embedded browser. The embeddedbrowser may detect the content from the network application in a numberof ways. For instance, the embedded browser may identify all incomingdata from the network application across the provisioning session ascontent. The data can be identified or detected as content. Some contentmay be relevant for Digital Rights Management (DRM), and some contentmay not be relevant. The user may select, activate, run, launch orotherwise execute the network application using the embedded browser.When content is streamed, provisioned, provided, communicated,transmitted, or otherwise sent from network application(s) executing onthe server(s) to the embedded browser of the client device, the embeddedbrowser may identify (or detect) the content from the networkapplication. Whenever the network application provides data to theclient device, the embedded browser may flag, identify, or otherwisedetect the incoming data as content from the network application.

Referring now to operation (1210), and in some embodiments, the embeddedbrowser can identify a DRM scheme. In some embodiments, the embeddedbrowser may identify the DRM scheme for the network application from aplurality of DRM schemes. The embedded browser may identify the DRMscheme according to the network application. In some embodiments, theembedded browser may identify the DRM scheme associated with the contentupon detecting the content. The embedded browser may determine, locateor otherwise identify the DRM scheme responsive to a user requestingcontent from a network application. The embedded browser may identifythe DRM scheme responsive to the network application communicatingcontent to the client device. The embedded browser may include or accessa plurality of DRM schemes. The embedded browser may identify the DRMscheme from a plurality of DRM schemes based on the content provided bythe network application (or based on the network application itself).

When the embedded browser detects content from the network application,in some embodiment, the DRM engine may access the storage device toidentify a DRM scheme associated with the content. In some embodiments,the DRM engine may identify a DRM scheme based on the networkapplication which delivered the content to the client device. In someembodiments, each network application (or network application type) mayhave or are assigned to a corresponding DRM scheme. In some embodiments,different types of network applications may have corresponding DRMschemes. The DRM engine may identify the network application whichcommunicated the content to the client device. The DRM engine mayidentify the network application based on data from the networkapplication (such as packets, bits/bytes, which identify the networkapplication), from the networking agent and/or remote session agent,etc. The DRM engine may access the storage device to determine which DRMscheme corresponds to the network application (or network applicationtype) that communicated the content to the client device. Hence, the DRMengine may identify the DRM scheme based on the network applicationwhich communicated or provided the content to the client device.

In some embodiments, the DRM engine may determine the DRM scheme for thecontent based on the type of content communicated from the networkapplication to the client device. Hence, DRM schemes may provide for apolicy or strategy for tagging content based on the type of content(rather than or in addition to tagging the content based on the networkapplication which sent the content). For instance, the DRM schemes mayoutline DRM tags for specific types of content (e.g., documents, audioor video, images, software, and so forth). Each of these types ofcontent may include a corresponding DRM scheme. For example, where thecontent is audio, the DRM engine may identify the content as audio in anumber of ways (e.g., based on the file format [WAV, MP3, MPEG, etc.],data within the content which identifies the content as audio, thesource of the audio [network application being an audio streamingapplication, a voice over internet protocol application], and so forth).Similar examples may be provided for the different types of content.Hence, the DRM engine may identify the type of content from the networkapplication. The DRM engine may access the storage device to determinethe DRM scheme associated with the type of content. The DRM scheme mayindicate that certain types of content should be incorporated withcertain types of DRM tags, certain types of classifications, etc. TheDRM engine may identify the DRM scheme corresponding to the type ofcontent and/or the network application which communicated the content tothe client device.

Referring now to operation (1215), and in some embodiments, the embeddedbrowser can generate a DRM tag. In some embodiments, the embeddedbrowser may generate a DRM tag for the content according to the DRMscheme identified for the network application. The DRM tag may include aclassification of the content. The embedded browser may construct,produce, create, or otherwise generate a DRM tag based on the DRM schemeidentified at operation (1210). The embedded browser may construct,produce, create, or otherwise generate the DRM tag as content isreceived and detected by the embedded browser (e.g., in real-time ornear real-time).

The DRM engine may generate a DRM tag for the content. In someembodiments, the DRM engine may generate the DRM tag in accordance withthe DRM scheme identified for the content. As stated above, the DRMscheme may include or correspond to a mechanism or way for applying DRMtags to different types of information (e.g., in content). The DRMscheme may organize content and information based on type of informationor content (e.g., images, documents, audio or video files, software),based on source of information or content (e.g., specific networkapplication, type of network application), and so forth. The DRM schememay indicate a policy associated with particular content, such as levelof sensitivity or confidentiality, access control specifications,encryption or watermarking requirements, etc. The DRM schemes may bedefined by an administrator for an enterprise, a developer of thenetwork applications, etc.

The DRM engine may generate a DRM tag which classifies the content(e.g., as strictly confidential, confidential, strongly sensitive,sensitive, internal, or public, secret, top secret, company proprietary,not for distribution (outside company), privileged, subject toattorney-client privilege, etc.). The DRM engine may generate the DRMtag which assigns access control specifications, encryptionrequirements, watermarking requirements, etc. for the content. The DRMtag generated by the DRM engine may also include author/sourceinformation, and various permissions. In some embodiments, content fromparticular network applications may automatically be assigned particularclassifications. For instance, content from file sharing applicationsmay automatically be assigned an “internal” classification. In someembodiments, content may be classified dynamically. For instance, ascontent from a network application is received by an embedded browser,the DRM engine may dynamically apply tags that include a classificationof the content based on the content. The DRM engine may analyze, parse,evaluate, or otherwise process the content form the network application.The DRM engine may use or include a neural network or machine learningalgorithm for processing the content. The DRM engine may dynamicallygenerate the DRM tags based on the content.

In some embodiments, when the DRM engine generates a DRM tag forspecific content, the DRM engine may store the DRM tag for subsequentuse. For instance, the DRM engine may store the DRM tag in theserver(s), cloud services, storage device, etc. The DRM engine may storethe DRM tag in association with the network application and/or thecontent. The stored DRM tag may be inserted into the same or othercontent provided by the same instance of the network application accessvia the client device, or by a different session or instance of thenetwork application by a different client device for instance (or sameclient device at a different point in time). Hence, DRM tags may bere-used in some embodiments, rather than being generated for everycontent instance.

A DRM tag may include or correspond to metadata incorporated into thecontent. A DRM tag may be incorporated into a header and/or field ofpackets or frames of the content, or into a separate file includedwithin or attached to the content, etc. The DRM tags may be included ina predetermined portion of the content file or, may be separate from andaccompanying the content. Where the content corresponds to a softwarepackage, the DRM tag and content may be structured similar to acollection of software scripts and/or libraries, etc.

Information about DRM tags and their corresponding type/source of thecontent may be maintained or indicated in a look-up table, for instance.The DRM tags may correspond to tags incorporated in, coupled to, orotherwise incorporated with specific content which describe the digitalrights associated therewith. The DRM tags may include information whichmay identify the sensitivity or confidentiality of the content. The DRMtags may include information which identifies a classification ofcontent, such as top secret, secret, strictly confidential,confidential, strongly sensitive, sensitive, proprietary, internal (ornot for distribution outside of the enterprise), subject toattorney-client privilege, public, etc. The level ofsensitivity/confidentiality may correspond to availability of thecontent to particular users or personnel within the enterprise (such asmanagement-level persons only, or management-level persons and peopleworking on a particular project, or only people in a particulardepartment working on a particular project, etc.).

The DRM tags may include information which identifies an access controlspecification for particular user(s), action(s) and/or content. Forinstance, access control specification may indicate whether specificusers or groups of users are allowed or restricted from sharing,uploading, copying, renaming, downloading, printing, emailing, saving,screen-capturing, editing, modifying, etc., content. In someembodiments, the DRM tags may include information which identifies thatsome users are allowed to perform functions which other users are notallowed to perform. For instance, users who are working on a particularproject may be allowed full access to documents generated by thoseworkers and other documents related to the project, while other workerswho are not working on the project may be denied access to the samedocuments. As another example, an owner (or creator) of a file may havepermission to read, write and execute the file, an administrator andmanagement may similarly have the ability to read and write, execute thefile, while other users may only be able to read the file.

The DRM tags may include information which identifies a watermark orencryption requirement for content. For instance, the DRM tags mayinclude information which indicates that some content is to bewatermarked. As one example, a DRM tag for documents may indicate thatdocuments which are sent outside the enterprise should automatically bewatermarked with their classification (e.g., strictly confidential,sensitive, and so forth). As another example, the DRM tags may includeinformation which indicates that documents having a classification ofstrictly confidential or higher are not permitted to be emailed orotherwise shared outside the enterprise. The DRM tags may includeinformation which indicates that some content is to be encrypted. As oneexample, a DRM tag may be used to indicate that a corresponding contentwhich is capable of being shared outside the enterprise shouldautomatically be encrypted when the content is shared outside theenterprise.

The DRM tags may include information associated with the content. Forinstance, the DRM tags may include information corresponding toauthor/source information (e.g., the network application and the userwho generated the content), copyright information pertaining to thecontent, software and/or open source licenses associated with thecontent, version or revision history for the content, owner of thecontent (e.g., the company, the user, etc.).

Referring now to operation (1220), and in some embodiments, the embeddedbrowser can incorporate the DRM tag. In some embodiments, the embeddedbrowser may incorporate the DRM tag into the content for managing usageof the content according to the classification. The embedded browser mayintegrate, weave, provide, add, intersperse, encode, or otherwiseincorporate the DRM tag into the content responsive to the content beingreceived by the embedded browser. The embedded browser may integrate,weave, provide, add, intersperse, encode, or otherwise incorporate theDRM tag into the content following the DRM tag being generated. Theembedded browser may integrate, weave, provide, add, intersperse,encode, or otherwise incorporate the DRM tag into the content inreal-time or near real-time. The embedded browser may integrate, weave,provide, add, intersperse, encode, or otherwise incorporate the DRM taginto the content responsive to the content being received by theembedded browser.

In some embodiments, the DRM engine may include or access a neuralnetwork or machine learning algorithm for identifying content and/or forincorporating tags to content. The DRM engine may use a trained model toidentify one or more portions of the information that can trigger theDRM tagging feature. In some embodiments, the model may be part of anatural language processing algorithm to analyzing speech content. Themodel may include formats or regular expressions for the predefinedtypes of information content. In some embodiments, the model may includea neural network with one or more weights. The DRM engine may train themodel using a training dataset.

The training dataset may include textual corpus labeled as correlatingto the predefined types of content. The textual corpus of the trainingdataset may for instance include sensitive content such as samplephysical home addresses, email addresses, passport numbers, vehicleregistration plate numbers, driver's license numbers, credit cardnumbers, telephone numbers, dollar amounts, and dates of births, otheramong others. Once the model is trained, the DRM engine may use themodel to parse the information content. In parsing the informationcontent, the DRM engine may recognize or identify the one or moreportions of the information as matching one of the predefined types ofinformation in accordance with a policy. In some embodiments, the DRMengine may assign a score for the one or more portions of theinformation identified as matching one of the predefined types ofcontent. The score may indicate a likelihood of a match. Based on thescore and/or matching, the DRM engine can determine which type ofcontent is delivered from the network application. Based on the type ofcontent (and DRM tag), the DRM engine may check or determine whethersuch content is being used properly, accessed properly, etc. The DRMengine may be configured to restrict actions on the content based on itsusage, according to the determined type of content and DRM tag.

In some embodiments, the DRM engine may use the neural network and/ormachine learning algorithm for determining whether to incorporate a taginto content. Similar to training of the model described above, the DRMengine may train the model using a training data set. The trainingdataset may include content and corresponding DRM tags. Once the modelis trained, the DRM engine may use the model for tagging content. TheDRM engine may parse the content to determine which DRM tag to apply tothe content. The DRM engine may assign a score to the DRM tag applied tothe content, which may be used for evaluating the effectiveness of theDRM tag applied to the content.

Referring to (1225) and in some embodiments, a DRM agent may monitorusage of the content according to the DRM tag for the content. In someembodiments, information about usage of the content may be routedthrough (or detected by) the DRM agent. The DRM agent may performendpoint analysis and/or inspection of the content at any enterprisenetwork node (e.g., in any client device). Hence, the DRM agent maygenerally identify, monitor or detect the usage (e.g., including statusand transmission) of the content. The DRM agent may determine whatactions are being taken on the content. For instance, the DRM agent maydetermine whether the user attempts to send the content outside theenterprise, edit the content, download or upload the content, etc. TheDRM agent may identify, consider and/or evaluate the DRM tag for thecontent to determine whether such action by the user is permissibleaccording to the DRM tag.

In some embodiments, the DRM agent may determine whether actions arepermissible based on a policy and the DRM tag. The DRM agent may accessone or more policies. The policies can be accessed, retrieved, selected,applied and/or otherwise used by the DRM agent (and/or other componentsof the system) to manage access and privileges for content from networkapplication(s) accessed via the embedded browser. The DRM agent canapply the one or more policies on a network application being accessedvia the embedded browser. For example, the DRM agent can apply the oneor more policies on the content of the network application and/or on theDRM tag for the content. For example, because the use of an embeddedbrowser allows for real-time visibility into information provisioned orgenerated through the network application (accessed via the embeddedbrowser), for instance even before such information is rendered by theembedded browser, the DRM agent can analyze or otherwise process theinformation to determine access privileges and/or sensitivity associatedwith content prior to the content being delivered to the client device.The DRM agent can for instance apply one or more policies dynamically tothe information to generate and/or dynamically update the access to thecontent and/or privileges.

In some embodiments, the policies can indicate if certain users, groupsof users, and/or users fitting certain profiles, have certain rights orprivileges pertaining to particular content and/or types of content. Forexample, where a management-level member accesses content from aparticular network application, the management-level member may haverights which indicate they can send, edit, copy, etc. the content.However, where a janitor attempts to access the same content, thejanitor may not have such privileges. The policies may indicate rights,privileges, security or clearance levels, etc., associated with varioususers or types/groups of users within an enterprise.

The policies can indicate if certain network applications, groups ofnetwork applications, and/or network applications fitting certainprofiles, should be subject to the DRM tagging feature of the embeddedbrowser. For example, if a network application meets a certain profilebeing tracked via a policy, such as susceptibility to disclosing,provisioning, or otherwise providing for communication of potentiallysensitive or confidential information or information having digitalrights associated therewith (e.g., personally identifiable data,corporate sales figures, customer database), the policies may indicatethat such a network application should have content tagged with DRMtags. Such embodiments may act as a precautionary-checking, deterrence,enforcement and/or tracking mechanism for content having digital rightsassociated therewith.

The DRM agent may permit or deny actions on or corresponding to thecontent based on the DRM tag for the content. The DRM agent may permitor deny actions on the content as the content is interacted with by auser. The DRM agent may perform endpoint analysis to detect any actionson the content. As stated above, the DRM agent may permit or denyactions on or corresponding to the content based on the DRM tag and thepolicies outlined above. In instances where the DRM agent denies accessor actions on or corresponding to the content, the DRM agent may informor instruct the user that they do not have the corresponding permission,inform an administrator of the attempted actions, etc.

In some embodiments, the DRM agent may encrypt or watermark the contentin accordance with the DRM tag. The DRM agent may include or accessencryption algorithms, watermarking algorithms, etc. The DRM agent mayidentify the content delivered to the client device. The DRM agent mayidentify the DRM tag for the content. When the DRM tag indicates thatthe content is to be watermarked or encrypted, the DRM agent may executethe encryption/watermarking algorithms to encrypt or watermark thecontent in accordance with the DRM tag.

In embodiments where the DRM tag indicates encryption and/orwatermarking of the content, the DRM agent may be designed orimplemented to verify the presence and/or sufficiency of the encryptionand/or watermarking. The DRM agent may compare the requirementsaccording to the DRM tag, to the current status of the content. Wherethe DRM agent identifies a mismatch (e.g., that the content is notproperly encrypted or watermarked), the DRM agent may report such amismatch to an administrator. The administrator may modify, forinstance, the encryption or watermarking algorithms to address suchissues.

It should be understood that the systems described above may providemultiple ones of any or each of those components and these componentsmay be provided on either a standalone machine or, in some embodiments,on multiple machines in a distributed system. The systems and methodsdescribed above may be implemented as a method, apparatus or article ofmanufacture using programming and/or engineering techniques to producesoftware, firmware, hardware, or any combination thereof. In addition,the systems and methods described above may be provided as one or morecomputer-readable programs embodied on or in one or more articles ofmanufacture. The term “article of manufacture” as used herein isintended to encompass code or logic accessible from and embedded in oneor more computer-readable devices, firmware, programmable logic, memorydevices (e.g., EEPROMs, ROMs, PROMs, RAMs, SRAMs, etc.), hardware (e.g.,integrated circuit chip, Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA),Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), etc.), electronicdevices, a computer readable non-volatile storage unit (e.g., CD-ROM,USB Flash memory, hard disk drive, etc.). The article of manufacture maybe accessible from a file server providing access to thecomputer-readable programs via a network transmission line, wirelesstransmission media, signals propagating through space, radio waves,infrared signals, etc. The article of manufacture may be a flash memorycard or a magnetic tape. The article of manufacture includes hardwarelogic as well as software or programmable code embedded in a computerreadable medium that is executed by a processor. In general, thecomputer-readable programs may be implemented in any programminglanguage, such as LISP, PERL, C, C++, C #, PROLOG, or in any byte codelanguage such as JAVA. The software programs may be stored on or in oneor more articles of manufacture as object code.

While various embodiments of the methods and systems have beendescribed, these embodiments are illustrative and in no way limit thescope of the described methods or systems. Those having skill in therelevant art can effect changes to form and details of the describedmethods and systems without departing from the broadest scope of thedescribed methods and systems. Thus, the scope of the methods andsystems described herein should not be limited by any of theillustrative embodiments and should be defined in accordance with theaccompanying claims and their equivalents.

We claim:
 1. A method for incorporating tags in content of networkapplications, the method comprising: detecting, by an embedded browseron a client device, content provided by a network application, thenetwork application accessed via the embedded browser; identifying, bythe embedded browser on the client device, from a plurality of digitalrights management (DRM) schemes and according to the networkapplication, a DRM scheme for the network application; generating, bythe embedded browser on the client device, a DRM tag for determiningwhether to encrypt the content according to the DRM scheme identifiedfor the network application, and the DRM tag including a classificationof the content; incorporating, by the embedded browser on the clientdevice, the DRM tag into the content for managing usage of the contentaccording to the classification; and identifying, by the embeddedbrowser on the client device, misuse of the content incorporated withthe DRM tag using a trained machine learning model.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising providing, by a client application executingon the client device and incorporating the embedded browser, access to aplurality of network applications via the embedded browser, theplurality of network applications including the network applicationproviding the content.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprisingdetermining the classification of the content according to at least oneof: information in the content, the network application, or the DRMscheme.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining theclassification of the content to comprise at least one of: strictlyconfidential, confidential, strongly sensitive, sensitive, internal, orpublic.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating the DRMtag to include at least one of: an access control specification, anencryption requirement for the content, a watermark requirement for thecontent.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the access controlspecification comprises at least one of: limiting access of the contentto one or more specified users, or restricting at least one of: sharing,uploading, downloading, printing, emailing, saving, or screen-capturingthe content.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising monitoringusage of the content according to the DRM tag of the content.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising detecting an action beingattempted on the content, and determining whether to allow or block theaction on the content according to the DRM tag of the content.
 9. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising determining whether to watermarkthe content according to the DRM tag of the content.
 10. A system forincorporating tags in content of network applications, the systemcomprising: memory configured to store a plurality of digital rightsmanagement (DRM) schemes; an embedded browser executed on one or morehardware processors of a client device, the embedded browser configuredto: provide access to a network application, and detect content providedby the network application; identify, from the plurality of DRM schemesand according to the network application, a DRM scheme for the networkapplication; generate a DRM tag for determining whether to encrypt thecontent according to the DRM scheme identified for the networkapplication, and the DRM tag including a classification of the content;incorporate the DRM tag into the content for managing usage of thecontent according to the classification and identify misuse of thecontent incorporated with the DRM tag using a trained machine learningmodel.
 11. The system of claim 10, further comprising a clientapplication executing on the one or more processors of the client deviceand incorporating the embedded browser, the client applicationconfigured to provide access to a plurality of network applications viathe embedded browser, the plurality of network applications includingthe network application providing the content.
 12. The system of claim10, wherein the embedded browser is further configured to determine theclassification of the content according to at least one of: informationin the content, the network application, or the DRM scheme.
 13. Thesystem of claim 10, wherein the embedded browser is further configuredto determine the classification of the content to comprise at least oneof: strictly confidential, confidential, strongly sensitive, sensitive,internal, or public.
 14. The system of claim 10, wherein the embeddedbrowser is further configured to: generate the DRM tag to include atleast one of: an access control specification, an encryption requirementfor the content, a watermark requirement for the content; store the DRMtag to one or more servers, in association with the network application;and incorporate the stored DRM tag into the content or other contentprovided by at least one of a present instance of the networkapplication or another instance of the network application.
 15. Thesystem of claim 14, wherein the access control specification comprisesat least one of: limiting access of the content to one or more specifiedusers, or restricting at least one of: sharing, uploading, downloading,printing, emailing, saving, or screen-capturing the content.
 16. Thesystem of claim 10, further comprising a DRM agent configured to monitorusage of the content according to the DRM tag of the content.
 17. Thesystem of claim 10, further comprising a DRM agent configured to detectan action being attempted on the content, and to determine whether toallow or block the action on the content according to a policy and theDRM tag of the content.
 18. The system of claim 10, further comprising aDRM agent configured to determine whether to watermark the contentaccording to the DRM tag of the content.